Fix You
by redsandman99
Summary: Seth Rollins is trying to pick up the pieces of his life after a tragedy. A potential romance with their neighbor Roman Reigns is what his friends think he needs but the return of Roman's old flame Dean Ambrose shakes up all their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Didn't intended on starting anything new but this popped into my head and as always didn't leave me alone until I gave in. Will feature the return of one my main trio of OCs because one of them always has to pop up sooner rather than later plus he just sort of ended up fitting the personality I wanted for a background character so I went with it. Sooo yeah...let's see where this shit takes us.**

...

_Seth found himself walking alone on an empty street. He had his hands resting inside the pockets of his Slipknot hoodie though the cool autumn wind had long blown his actual hood down. His ears were starting to go numb but he didn't bother to actually pull the hood back up. He just kept walking straight ahead, his eyes glancing around but not focusing on anything for very long. The sun was just starting to disappear, making a pretty mix of purple, orange and pink up in the sky. Some of the buildings he walked by had flags mounted on them which whipped around wildly from the wind. He knew the street he was on but he wasn't used to it being so empty. Even during the night it was always bustling with people. The buildings in question were mostly bars and late night diners after all. Yet there he was, completely alone. It creeped him out but he tried not to dwell on it. He just wanted to get home. He was supposed to be home before dark and there was no way he was going to make it. Even if he ran he wouldn't make it so he didn't bother. Running in the cold always killed his lungs anyway. Hopefully his parents were going to be running late and wouldn't make it home before he got there._

_In the distance he could hear sirens blaring but it wasn't until he realized he was walking towards them that he really paid attention to them. A sense of dread started to fill him. It started in his stomach, twisting his insides into a huge knot and making him feel like he was going to throw up. It moved its way up to his chest, constricting his lungs until he felt like he couldn't breathe. His head started to spin from the lack of oxygen and he felt himself start to tremble. Something was horribly wrong. He couldn't identify what it was but he felt like he should have. He had been there before. His mind screamed at him to turn around and run but his feet kept moving forward. He didn't want them to but there they were, leading him to certain doom. He turned the corner and stopped in his tracks._

_Barely ten feet ahead was a burning car. Fire trucks and police cars has surrounded it, the uniformed men trying their best to put out the blaze. A surge of panic rose through Seth. He knew that car. He knew what this was. "No no no no no..." _

Seth woke up in a cold sweat. His body almost shot straight up but weight on either side of him kept him down. He took several deep breaths and tried to regain his bearings. The images of the burning car still lingered but he did his best to chase them away. He didn't need to focus on that. He didn't want to. Instead he looked at his two sleeping companions, neither of whom had stirred as he woke up. Cody laid on top of his left arm, his face covered with his own arms he was using as a pillow. AJ laid under his right arm, her arms wrapped around his torso while her head rested on his chest. It had only been the three of them in the apartment tonight. Dolph was at work while Cooper...well actually Seth didn't know where he was. And given the fact the older male scared him more than a little he didn't really want to know. What he did know was that movie night had been a bust yet again. The TV screen showed the main menu of the DVD, the background music of it playing over and over again. Seth's eyes tried to find the remote without his body moving. He couldn't see it anywhere on the pullout couch. Not from his current position anyway.

Being careful to not wake his sleeping roommates, Seth untangled himself from them and sat up. The arm Cody had laid on was completely numb. He winced and started rubbing the feeling back into it. He still couldn't see the remote anywhere. There were no blankets to obscure it (even if this was the coolest room in the entire apartment it was too hot for them) and it didn't look like either AJ or Cody were laying on it. The damn thing had fallen. Seth sighed and very slowly moved off the mattress. He climbed off at the foot of it, nearly falling into the stand that held the TV and DVD player. That entire set up had come from a pawn shop so it really wasn't worth much but he would lose his head if he broke any of it. Thankfully he managed to catch himself and his search for the remote continued. He searched the floor by AJ's side first since he vaguely remembered her having it last. His memory didn't steer him wrong. It was there, resting face down on the dirty brown carpet. He picked it up and turned off the TV, plunging the room in nearly total darkness. Moonlight still streamed in through the window which gave him a way to see as he walked towards the kitchen. He set the remote on top of the TV on the way and braced himself for the sweltering heat that came with going to the kitchen these days. The end of May had brought on an early heat wave and coming into June it had only gotten worse. How any of them were going to survive the summer they didn't know. Their little bit of air conditioning was only doing so much. None of the others could sleep in their own bedrooms. Seth had been living on the pullout couch for nearly six months so he got no time away from anyone now. Nobody could even think about using the old oven to cook anything. It would only make the kitchen that much more unbearable. Not that that was such a huge problem. It was all they could do to keep the roof over their heads. Cooper didn't have a real job and most of his money went to his drug habit. Seth made minimum wage and Cody didn't do much better. AJ had to rely on tips, which were unpredictable at best. Dolph was the only one who made any real money but being the main bill payer along with paying for AJ's medication didn't leave him much to get groceries with.

Seth flipped on the kitchen light and started searching through what they did have. In the fridge he managed to find a can of Dr. Pepper but besides from some bologna and a jar holding a single pickle there was nothing to be had in a food capacity. The pantry produced slightly better results. He grabbed the half full box of Fruit Loops and took his impromptu meal out the door and on to the porch. They lived on the second floor of the apartment complex and shared the porch with the people in the apartment next to them. The porch had a wooden staircase attached to it, though Seth was quite sure that would give out any day now. He sat down in the old green lawn chair they had out there and stared out into the parking lot. There wasn't a lot to see at this time of night. A bunny scurried across the parking lot and turned the corner that led to the long, steep, pot hole filled driveway that was going to claim the life of everyone's tires sooner than later. He opened the box of cereal and reached in to grab a handful. The crinkling of the bag sounded so much louder than it normally did. He popped the fruity rings into his mouth, nearly moaning they tasted so good. He remembered a time he used to actually hate this cereal. Back when he could afford to be picky. Those days were long gone. Now he was just grateful to have anything in his stomach.

By the time Dolph's car pulled up into the parking lot Seth had long finished both the pop and the cereal. Seth's face brightened and without thinking he sprinted down the wooden steps to meet him. They creaked dangerously under his weight. The safer way would have been to go back inside, go to the living room and take the door that led to the hallway and the staircase that wouldn't potentially kill someone. But that would lead him out to the front of the apartment building and then he would have to run all the way around to the back...no, nobody did that. They all just risked their lives for the sake of speed.

"Hey!" Seth skidded to a halt right as the older man was getting out of the car. He had become rather enamored with Dolph, much to everyone's amusement. It wasn't a crush despite what crude teasing Cooper fancied doing from time to time. Dolph was attractive sure but Seth had found himself looking at him like he would an older brother. At some point since being brought home by the bleached blonde he started following him around the apartment, eager to please, to amuse, to annoy if need be. AJ found it adorable thankfully and took him under her wing much like Dolph had. She was barely older than him (nineteen to his eighteen) but she had more interest in him than any of his sisters had ever really displayed to him. She had even helped him dye part of his jet black hair blonde as a way to copy Dolph a little. He couldn't pull off being totally blonde but the two toned look seemed to suit him. At least that was everyone else told him.

"Hey kid." Dolph had barely four years on him yet he still called him kid. If it hadn't been meant as affectionate Seth would have had a problem. "What are you doing up?"

Seth shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." He tried to play it off like it was no big deal but he knew Dolph knew better.

"Nightmares again?"

Seth's non-answer was the closest to a yes that was going to happen. Dolph shut the car door and ruffled his hair sympathetically.

"I uh, got some stuff while I was out." Dolph walked around Seth to get to the trunk of the car. Seth could smell the mix of baby oil, cigarette smoke and cheap beer that had come from the strip club. Dolph worked there as a second job while he worked at the local gym during the day. "I couldn't go another fucking day with what we had." He opened the trunk to reveal several grocery bags full of food.

Seth's eyes widened. In all actuality it wasn't that much considering how many of them there were but it was the most food he had seen them have. "Rent is due this week how-"

"I'll take care of it," Dolph said quickly.

"But Barrett will have our heads-"

"I'll take care of it." Dolph wasn't leaving any room for argument. He picked up half of the bags and motioned for Seth to grab the others. "Help me out here."

Seth did what he was told. He waited for Dolph to close the trunk and dutifully followed him up the stairs. They went back into the kitchen, trying their best not to wake up Cody and AJ as they entered the apartment. Seth used his butt to knock the door shut behind them before putting his sacks on the table where Dolph had already placed the ones he had carried. The first thing Dolph did every time he came home was go and give AJ a kiss and tonight was no different. Seth watched the ritual, a small smile on his lips. He had never seen anyone dote on their girlfriend or boyfriend the way Dolph did to her. Cody and Cooper both pointed out that she was far from well and needed someone to baby her but to Seth it didn't change how sweet it was. He never had someone take care of him like that. His ex-boyfriend Jimmy had been too absorbed in himself to treat him with anything close to the love Dolph showed AJ.

Seth shook off his thoughts and busied himself with putting the groceries away. A few moments later Dolph joined him. "You still hungry?"

Seth nodded.

Without another word Dolph made a couple of tuna salad sandwiches and put them on paper plates. He handed one to Seth, who nearly scarfed it down in one bite. "Easy easy," Dolph chuckled. "Nobody's taking it away from you."

Seth grinned sheepishly but didn't eat any slower. He was still too hungry to take his time.

"So I talked to Naomi earlier. She and Jimmy are having a party tomorrow."

"Mmm?" Seth perked up.

"Yeah. She said they'd grill out hamburgers and hot dogs and we could light off some fireworks-"

Seth swallowed his mouthful of sandwich so fast he nearly choked. "How did they get fireworks?"

Dolph shrugged. "Don't ask me. I just got told to show up." He took of his own sandwich and chewed it slowly. "They said Roman would be there."

Seth's cheeks turned red at the deliberate reveal by Dolph. He hadn't wanted to blush but he hadn't been able to stop himself. Dolph laughed and with a whine he kicked the older man on the shin. "Fuck you dude!"

Dolph just laughed harder. "You should talk to him more. You like him."

"No I don't shut up." Seth was lying right through his teeth. He did like Roman. He didn't see how anyone couldn't. Jimmy's cousin was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. He was a bouncer at The Salty Dog and lived there in the building with them. He lived down in apartment 1D, one of the few people there to live by themselves. He played cards with Dolph and Cooper sometimes but Seth had never really had the courage to say much of anything to him. Dolph and Cooper claimed he was gay and needed a boyfriend about as much as he did but Seth didn't have the guts. He had only dated Jimmy because they had known each other for years and it just kind of happened. He didn't really know how to go about the whole relationship thing other than stumbling face first into it.

"If you didn't like him then why do you have that grin on your face?" Dolph nudged him playfully. "Look, I know it's been rough for you but you gotta get out more."

"I get out plenty," Seth said defensively. "I work, I go places-"

"When Cody drags you along." Dolph's expression got more serious. He put his hand on Seth's thigh and squeezed it gently. "You gotta go out and start living a little more. The world hasn't stopped turning. Do you really think your family would want anything less for you?"

"They're gone they can't want anything." Seth didn't mean to snap. He really didn't. The statement just flew out of his mouth before he could stop it. His own words made his chest ache and he wished he hadn't said it. He looked down and did his best to swallow the lump in his throat away. "Sorry..."

Dolph shook his head. "Don't worry about it." It was easy to tell he still held a lot of concern but Seth's unwillingness to talk about it made him back off. They finished their food in silence. When they were done Dolph took their paper plates and threw them away.

"You can sleep in my place if you want," Seth offered. "There's really not room for all of-"

"There's room." Dolph saw right through Seth's excuse to not go back to bed. He turned Seth towards the living room and pushed him forward. "We fit Cooper on there too with us before we can certainly fit without him."

Seth sighed. He knew that but he didn't want to go back to sleep. One nightmare a night was enough for him. He wasn't going to win this fight though. He never did. Instead he had to just accept defeat and crawl back to his spot between AJ and Cody. He pushed Cody to the side just enough that Dolph could move AJ over and get on the bed as well. AJ mumbled something in her sleep but Dolph just pulled her into his embrace and she went silent once more. Seth turned to face Cody and tried to set a steady rhythm for his breathing. He needed to try to at least pretend to be asleep. At first he was sure he wouldn't fool Dolph but the older man was too tired to realize and call him out for it. Seth soon heard the sound of his snoring and put his pillow over his ears to try to block it out. It was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of his phone ringing woke Roman out of his slumber. He groaned and opened his eyes, giving the vibrating cell phone a dirty look. He didn't want to be up yet. It had been a rough night at work and he hadn't gotten home until nearly four in the morning. It was only a quarter to eleven now and his eyes begged for more sleep. It wasn't about to be afforded to him though. Over and over again the phone went off, finally giving him no choice but to answer it. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Well good fucking morning to you too." It was Jimmy. Roman should have figured as much. Jey and Naomi usually left him alone if he didn't answer the first time they called. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"You woke me up dick face." Roman ran a hand over his face before rolling on to his back. "You know I work late why do you insist on calling in the damn morning? I know you were raised to have better manners than that."

"Being raised to have them and then actually still possessing them are two entirely different things," Jimmy pointed out. It was disgusting how not sorry he was. He was actually laughing at Roman. Laughing at how irritated he was. "I just wanted to make sure you're coming later."

"You woke me up over your stupid party?" Roman was really going to kill him now.

"Yeah."

"Oh I'll be there." He was going to go just to murder him. His family would be pissed and Naomi would probably take his head for it but the satisfaction of the act itself would be more than worth it.

"Good because you gotta bring something this time."

"I don't wanna bring anything."

"You have to bring something."

"You're the host of the party. It's your job to feed your guests." Despite still being exhausted Roman could feel the odds of him being able to go back to sleep slipping away. It made him all the more determined to murder his cousin upon seeing him.

"In this family you bring shit to gatherings," Jimmy replied. "That's what we do."

"It's not a gathering it's a shindig!" Naomi yelled from the background.

"No it's a hootenanny!" Jey piped in.

Jimmy snorted. "I don't care what it is! He's bringing food damn it!"

"Whatever it is, all you assholes are getting is chips." Roman wasn't going to be argued with on the matter. He wasn't one for cooking. He could do it if he had to sure but it wasn't anything he liked to do. And certainly not for people who woke him up just to be an asshole. "I ain't even buying dip. You're taking that shit dry."

"Dip is nasty anyway fool. Don't be acting like you're denying me of anything."

"Dip is delicious what in the hell are you talking about?" Jey sounded absolutely flabbergasted.

"This delicious breakfast I cooked is about to get cold if you two don't sit the hell down and eat it."

"Whoop, gotta go." And with that Jimmy hung up. No proper goodbye to go along with the lack of apology. Roman hung up the phone with a groan and put it aside. His eyes begged for rest but with his mind up and running and his stomach growling he didn't even bother trying to go back to sleep. Instead he rolled out of bed and combed his long black hair with his fingers. He needed to shower and get dressed before going out and actually getting the chips he had been badgered into bringing but that could all wait. He ventured out of his bedroom, his fingers scratching his stomach as he headed to the kitchen. The lights were off in there but he didn't have to turn them on. Not with all the sunlight that was pouring in past the thin white curtains. The thin walls let him hear the yelling and playful screaming going on outside though for once it wasn't coming from children. Roman tried to just ignore it like he usually did. He opened the refrigerator door and pulled out the leftover Chinese food he had in there. He snagged a fork from the drawer and started to turn so he could head back to the living room. He could watch the news before he went out. He barely moved two steps though before the yelling from outside caught his attention again. The raspy voice was the one that really hooked him. He turned himself back around and walked to the window. He tried to keep himself hidden as he peeked out, though anyone that actually really looked would have seen him plain as day. The three people he found himself spying on though were paying no mind to anyone but each other. Seth, Cody and AJ were the ones running around the courtyard. One of them had gotten to the building's hose and they were already beating the heat by taking turns spraying it and chasing each other.

"NO NO NO NOT MY EAR!" AJ shrieked and jumped behind Seth for protection. That left Seth to take the full blast of the hose from Cody, who looked far too delighted to get him instead of AJ.

"CODY!" Seth yelped. He tried to get AJ out from behind him so she could take the blast now but she clung to him like a spider monkey. Not that Roman blamed her. The water was completely freezing. Even with how hot it already was it still was a shock to their system.

Cody switched to pointing the hose up in the air and letting the water fall down on them like rain. AJ unhooked herself from Seth and started skipping around, smacking Cody on the ass as she went around him. The two of them started arguing over that but Seth stayed in place, completely unaffected by it. Roman's grey eyes focused solely on him. The lanky man tilted his head back and stuck his tongue out, letting the drops of water fall down to his tongue. His body was so soaked his white swim trunks were plastered to his skin. Roman groaned under his breath. Even from where he was he was starting to see through them. Or maybe that was just his ever so willing imagination.

Roman made himself look away. He was more than a little attracted to the younger man. He never said or did anything about it though. Every time he saw him he was with Cody and the conclusion drawn in his own mind was that they were together. Of course he hadn't actually asked anyone if this was true. He wasn't one to reveal what he was thinking or feeling and he saw no innocent way of asking the question. His cousins would never let him hear the end of it and he knew Dolph was protective of both Cody and Seth and he didn't want to make his friend mad by prying.

When Roman looked up again Seth had put his head back down and was pulling the rubber band out of his hair. Black and blond locks shook free. Roman could mostly just see the blond from where he was and it reflected brightly off the sun. Roman watched Seth smile as AJ took his hand and tried to make him skip around with her. He shook his head and got a face full of water from Cody, who was just having a ball. Seth flailed to the ground dramatically while AJ jumped on Cody, wrestling the hose away from him so she could make him scream and run. Roman chuckled before his attention turned back to Seth. He froze as brown eyes met his. Shit.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever though in reality it wasn't more than a few seconds. Roman was so busy being mortified that he was caught staring that he didn't see the blush creeping up in Seth's cheeks. He just abandoned his place at the window and stormed to the living room. His little toe hit one of the chairs at the kitchen table on the way and a string of curses flew out of his mouth. Injury on top of his embarrassment. His day really was getting off to a fantastic start.

...

The sight of Roman watching him stayed with Seth as he went through the rest of the morning and afternoon. He tried to act like nothing was wrong as they continued the hose hijinks and ate lunch but his mind wasn't into it all. Before Roman had caught himself and got embarrassed he swore he had seen something else in those grey eyes. Something that told him that he had been the subject of Roman's viewing and that was why he took off like that. He tried to tell himself that was stupid. Roman wouldn't watch him. Nobody ever did. He had dated the mother of goo goo eye watchers in Jimmy Jacobs and he had never been looked at like that by him. Then again, Jimmy only ever truly wanted what he couldn't have and Seth had just been a convenience. Still though, why would Roman look at him like that? On looks alone Roman could have anyone. Whether it be man or woman he could have anyone so why would he look at him?

"You okay over there?" AJ asked. She and Seth were in the bathroom alone now. Cody was changing for the big Uso bash while Dolph was in the kitchen with Cooper, who had just returned from his three day walkabout.

"Yeah." Seth smiled as he shifted around. He was sitting on the edge of the tub just watching her get ready. She had put on one of Dolph's blue t-shirts that she had cut up and was wearing the half red half black shorts Seth actually found himself jealous of. For the coloring of course. He didn't want to actually wear the girl's shorts. He had put one of her other pairs on once as a dare and it had absolutely killed his balls they were so tight. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You seemed distracted." She opened the medicine cabinet so she could grab some of her make-up. Her hand brushed against the trio of medication kept in there for her. An anti-psychotic, an antidepressant and some kind of mood stabilizer. The holy trinity of a drug cocktail. Nobody really talked about AJ's issues. Not since Seth had lived with them anyway. Cooper had said the words borderline personality disorder to him but he had skipped over the psychology class in high school so he had no real idea what that meant.

"I just uh...was thinking." Seth leaned forward so he could push the bathroom door shut.

"About what?" AJ applied her eye shadow carefully.

"Well um...I saw Roman looking at us earlier. Like out his window." Seth was already blushing this sounded so stupid saying it out loud. He needed to just stop himself but he couldn't. "And I um...think he was watching me." He froze as AJ whirled around, her eyes wide. "Look it's stupid alright there's no-"

"Finally you noticed that!"

Seth blinked in confusion. "What?"

AJ rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" She stepped forward and slapped him upside the head. "Is it a requirement for all the pretty ones to be so dense?"

Seth pouted his lips. "I resent that."

"It's true though." AJ rubbed the spot on his head she just smacked. "Every time you and Cody come parading around during those card games they have up here he's looking at you. We didn't start saying to date him because we're pulling the thought out of our ass." She tucked a blond strand of hair behind Seth's ear. "You should talk to him tonight."

"If he likes me so much why hasn't he said anything?" Seth hated that the idea of making the first move freaked him out so much. He didn't want it to. Everyone made it sound so easy he wished he felt that it was that way.

AJ hesitated before answering. "He's always been a little shy. As long as I've known him anyway."

"How long have you known him anyway?"

"Oh god. Since I was like nine. My brother was friends with him in high school."

"And he was shy?"

"Well he was always quiet even back then so yeah I figured. My brother used to rag on him all the time for it." She turned back around so she could go back to putting on her make-up.

"Are they still close?"

She shook her head. "Brother dearest was a homophobe so once he and Dean got together it just sort of killed their friendship.

"How long was Roman with Dean?" Seth didn't know why he was asking. He had never seen anyone named Dean around so clearly he wasn't even a factor. Yet the thought of Roman with someone else sparked pangs of jealousy he technically had no right to have.

AJ froze as she reached for her lip gloss. "They um...they broke up about a year ago."

"What happened?"

"Drugs. Dean got real bad." She put on the lip gloss and put it away before turning back around. "Roman made him go to rehab after he overdosed. Dean freaked out and said Roman was throwing him away. They had this huge blowout fight. Cops got called. Roman tried to make him see he that he was trying to help but Dean took off. One of his other druggie friends took him in and they skipped town."

"...Oh." Well that hadn't been the story Seth had expected to hear. Now he felt bad for asking.

"Yeah..." AJ looked uncomfortable just talking about it. She shook her head and moved the subject back to the original topic. "You should talk to him tonight though."

"And I'm gonna be what, his rebound?"

"No. That's not what I'm saying." AJ went over to the door and opened it. She was still looking at Seth so she missed the fact that Cooper was on the other side of the door. "Just talk to him. It won't hurt."

"Unless you know he violently rejects you by punching you in the face." Cooper smirked as AJ jumped. "Hey girlie." He slipped into the room with them, making it entirely too crowded for them. He was tall, nearly basketball player size but skinner than Seth was. His baggy t-shirt and jeans did little to conceal his ever growing weight loss. Shaggy black hair hung in his eyes and under the light Seth could see his ginger roots starting to creep in. His face was pale and gaunt, his eyes looking more sunken in than normal due to the black eyeliner he had on. "But I mean, what are the odds of that happening?"

"God damn it Cooper you stink." AJ pushed him on the chest, actually moving him he was so light. "If you're going tonight you need to shower."

"Well you know I would have already but then you two decided to have a secret meeting in here." Cooper looked back and forth between them. "Who were you talking about anyway?"

"Wait, you were telling me I was going to get punched in the face and you don't even know who we were talking about?" Seth rolled his eyes and got up. "Learn to eavesdrop better."

Cooper smirked. "Was it Dolph? Cuz I know how you-"

"He does NOT like Dolph!" AJ gave Cooper a dirty look. "And Dolph's not gay anyway."

"You sure? He seems mighty comfortable dancing up there for all the men to see."

"My club attracts the rich men dude." Dolph swooped in just in time. AJ's dirty look was rapidly growing more hateful with every word that came out of Cooper's mouth. Seth actually thought for a moment she would leap forward and bite his face off. "It ain't about my sexuality. I just shake my ass where the money is." He wrapped his arms around AJ's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Or you know, if AJ asks me too."

Cooper gagged. "Whatever. Just all of you out. You can't complain that I smell and then not let me bathe this is not how it works."

"Come on." Dolph snagged Seth by the arm and led both him and AJ out of there. When they got to the living room AJ wiggled out of his grip and grabbed Seth by the hand.

"We gotta make you nice and sexy," she said as he pulled him over to the closet. "Maybe we should put you in one of Dolph's work outfits."

"I'm not dressing like a stripper!"

"But would you undress like one?" Dolph teased.

Seth gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry," Dolph said sheepishly. "Babe don't make him-"

"He'll wear what I tell him and he will like it!" AJ turned around and put her hands on her hips. Her expression clearly told them she was not joking. "Understand?"

Seth and Dolph looked at each other before nodding. "Yes ma'am."

"Good boys."


	3. Chapter 3

"Damn Rollins, I didn't know you had such a nice ass."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Shut up Cooper." The outfit AJ had picked for him had looked simple when she showed it to him. Black tank top with black jeans and boots to match. Not the greatest color choice with the heat but she had insisted black was a sleek color that looked good on anyone. What he hadn't realized though until it was too late was that with the exception of the shoes, the outfit was entirely too tight. Especially the pants. It had taken the combined efforts of him, AJ, Dolph and even Cody to pull the things on and get them buttoned and zipped up. They were practically glued to his body, making a complete spectacle of his ass.

"I'm being serious here." Cooper was bringing up the rear end of their path down the dark stairwell. They could hear the party already starting out in the courtyard. The Usos and Naomi were the most well liked people in the building so the turnout for their parties was always good. "AJ you gotta dress him more often."

AJ, who was leading the way with Dolph, turned her head back and grinned. "I should. Roman won't be able to resist you."

"He'll have to beat off guys with both hands to get to you," Cody chimed in helpfully. He was attempting to slide down the railing but kept chickening out and stopping himself every time he almost got going.

"Beating guys off with both hands? Isn't that your job Codes?"

"Fuck you!"

"Well if you insist..." Cooper tried to grab at Cody, who jumped off the railing and sprinted down the stairs.

"Dolph stop him!"

"Oh come on like I actually would." Cooper rolled his eyes as Dolph glared at him. "You need to lighten up dude. I wouldn't fuck any of you. You got standards and I respect that."

Seth raised his eyebrows. That wasn't what he had expected to hear Cooper say. He didn't dwell on it too long, figuring Cooper was just trying to get on his best behavior so Naomi would flay him alive. Instead he took a deep breath as they stepped outside. The heat that hit him immediately made him cringe. It had gotten even hotter since he had last been out there He was starting to think they no longer inhabited a town but the bowels of hell instead.

"Anyone see Roman?" AJ looked around but she was so short it was hard for her to see around the crowd.

"Not yet..." Seth felt himself start to get nervous. What if Roman hadn't come? He spotted Cody's on again off again boyfriend Randy Orton talking to his Marine buddy Ted DiBiase and Jack Swagger, who worked at the comic book shop that Seth did. Naomi's best friend Cameron was engaged in a conversation with Johnny Curtis while his girlfriend Summer Rae shot her dirty looks. Jey was tossing a football around with Chris Hero, Antonio Cesaro and Natalya Neidhart while Nattie's husband Tyson continuously lit sparklers for the kids. "Maybe he had to work."

"Maybe if you people looked by the grill you could chill for five seconds."

Seth and AJ's attention went to where Cooper was pointing. Roman was indeed there. He was sitting in a lawn chair, one hand holding a beer while the other kept trying to hit at Jimmy. Jimmy was trying to cook the hamburgers and hot dogs but still found time to try to catch Roman's hand with the tongs every time it came at him. Their antics were distracting Naomi from getting the rest of the food set up on the table and each time she had to stop she could be heard yelling at them. Seth couldn't tell exactly what she was saying but nothing good could be coming for them if they didn't knock it off.

"Come on." AJ grabbed Seth by the hand and started pulling him in that direction. Cooper and Cody tried to follow too but Dolph grabbed them both and dragged them over to Jey instead. Naomi saw them coming before Jimmy and Roman did and the knowing smile that crossed her face was not lost on Seth. He got the distinct feeling she was completely in on AJ's matchmaking plot.

"Baby girl!" Naomi amped up her voice as she pulled AJ into a hug. If one didn't know better it would have seemed like Naomi hadn't seen AJ in years rather than just yesterday. Her performance served a purpose though. It drew the attention of Jimmy and Roman, who looked at AJ only for a moment before settling their gaze on Seth. Roman's eyes grew wide at Seth's ridiculously tight attire. Seth felt himself go red and he hated it. AJ had given him this whole pep talk about strutting his stuff and at least pretending he had confidence but he couldn't even do that.

"Ohhh my god..." Jimmy looked back and forth between Roman and Seth and snickered. The girls gave him a death glare but that only made him laugh more.

"Seth give Naomi a twirl and let her see my work," AJ ordered.

"I can barely walk. How am I supposed to twirl?"

"He ain't a damn girl wearing a dress. He don't have to twirl." Jimmy snagged Seth away from the girls and pulled him towards him and Roman. "Good grief man what are you letting them do to you?" he asked Seth. "You gotta put your foot down-" "

"What do you know about putting your foot down?" Roman shook his head and was trying to play himself off as normal but his eyes kept shifting back to Seth every two seconds. It was something that was lost on nobody. The girls were smirking and Jimmy looked about five seconds away from laughing again. "We all know Naomi wears the pants in your relationship."

"AJ wears the pants in our entire apartment." Seth said it as a joke though with as bossy as she was being it certainly had been true today.

"You're damn right I do." AJ walked over to Jimmy and snatched the tongs out of his hand.

"What the hell are you-"

"Naomi and I need help getting the keg," she said innocently.

"Keg? We have a keg?"

"Toni and Chris have one but they said we gotta lug it out," Naomi elaborated.

"Exactly." AJ handed the tongs to Seth. "He can take care of the food."

"But-" Seth's objections fell on deaf ears as the girls dragged Jimmy away. "Shit." He looked at Roman who quickly tried to look like he was watching Jimmy and the girls go. "You know how to grill right?"

Roman let his gaze finally settle on Seth. He at least had a reason to now without it being seen as creepy. "You don't?"

Seth grinned sheepishly. "Food kind of catches on fire when I try to cook it."

Roman returned the grin and set his beer aside. "Let me then." He got up out of the chair and took the tongs. "You can sit if you want."

"I don't know if I can." Walking was hard enough; he felt like trying to sit was testing his luck. Instead he opted to lean against the food table for the time being. "This works." He saw an unopened can of coke sitting by the potato salad container and snagged it for himself. He watched Roman turn the food over with a frown. "How do you not burn it all?"

"I...just don't?" Roman shrugged. "Grilling isn't that hard. My dad used to get really plastered during parties so I just ended up doing all the cooking. Seemed safer for everyone."

"Sounds like my uncle." Seth opened the Coke and took a long drink out of it. The cold liquid felt marvelous going down his throat. It was even hotter standing there by the grill but he was just going to endure it. He and Roman had already spoken more to each other than they ever had before he couldn't really ruin the track they were on. "He wasn't allowed to cook after he set the whole grill on fire."

"How the hell do you set a grill on fire?"

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. I was like five when he did it. I come back from chasing the ice cream guy down the street and everyone's screaming and trying to put the fire out." His lips twitched at the memory. "It was the last time my aunt let him host a Fourth of July party."

"I don't blame her." Roman walked back to his chair and snagged his beer. Seth let his eyes wander all over the older man as he did so, quickly looking down once the beer was reclaimed and Roman returned to his spot by the grill. "Jimmy's lucky he still gets to host parties honestly."

"Why?" Seth looked back up just in time to see Roman smirk. Fuck. That was too sexy. It wasn't even fair.

"A couple years back we were having a Christmas party right?" Roman looked all too delighted to be telling this story. "Jey busted out some tequila and Dolph and Jimmy got into this huge drinking contest. They got completely shit faced and ended up getting naked and having this huge wrestling match in the snow."

Seth groaned. "Oh no..."

Roman pointed to the ever dangerous long driveway. "They got to wrestling over there and Jimmy slipped on some ice. Cracked his head open. We had to rush him to the hospital. Idiot ended up with thirteen stiches in his thick ass skull. Dolph about got frostbite on his dick while he was at it. After that we said no more tequila."

"And here I thought my projectile vomiting incident was bad." The words flew out of Seth's mouth faster than he realized what story he was telling. Once that did sink in he put a hand over his mouth, completely mortified that he had just said that. Roman choked on his beer but once he was actually able to breathe again he laughed. The sound of it made Seth drop his hand back down and the ice was more than broken now. They continued exchanging stories, playfully trying to outdo each other with their tales. Roman got the food done and everyone came over to eat. Seth managed to get himself into a chair and he and Roman's conversation died off as they ate, going off mostly in favor of watching Antonio and Chris attempting to see who could shove the most food in their mouth. Seth and Roman both placed their bets with Antonio, not only because he was freakishly good at everything but someone had to offset the support Dolph, Jey and Jimmy were putting behind Chris. Antonio emerged the victor by a landslide and Roman and Seth high fived each other.

"Oh sure celebrate like you did the work," Antonio grumbled once he managed to chew and swallow his food.

"We're celebrating your awesomeness dude." Seth leaned forward as much as his pants would allowed and offered his hand so the Swiss man could join in the high fiving festivities.

Antonio mumbled something under his breath but slowly he smiled and high fived Seth. "All hail the mighty Cesaro."

"Oh shut up." Chris reached over and pushed Antonio's head playfully. "Stop feeding your own ego."

The sun was just starting to set by the time they were all done eating. The moved the lawn chairs to be set up as a large circle. In the middle of that circle was where the fireworks started being lit. Those proceedings started innocently enough. Jey busted out some pop bottle rockets for them to stick in empty beer bottles and light off that way. It was of course when Jimmy busted out the Roman candles that drunken stupidity started to rear its ugly head.

"We are not taking you to the hospital if you catch on fire," Naomi announced as Cooper laid on the ground. "I hope you know that."

"Relax woman." Randy shook off Cody, who was also objecting to this plan. He had taken one of the long cylinders from Jimmy and placed the end of it in Cooper's mouth. "Who's got a lighter?"

"Allow me." AJ untangled herself from Dolph's lap and got up.

"Babe don't..." Dolph sighed as she got the lighter out of her pocket. "Don't encourage this."

Roman leaned over so he could whisper to Seth without anyone else overhearing them. "I think she wants his face to catch on fire."

Seth nodded. He couldn't argue with that. Tensions always rose whenever AJ and Cooper spent an extended amount of time together. There seemed to be no real reason for it other than Cooper was an ass and AJ didn't let it roll off of her like the others did.

AJ lit the candle and everyone watched with baited breath as the multi-colored fireballs started to shoot out. Cooper didn't even bother to shield his eyes. He just laughed the entire time, his eyes gleeful as the fireballs shot up into the air. Nothing bad happening to him gave the others a sense of bravery. Seth could only shake his head as everyone. Jey and Cody both held candles up and sang a rather rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Jimmy had wanted to join in but Naomi laid down the law and wouldn't let him. Antonio , Cooper and Chris broke away from the circle to start chasing each other with firing candles. An errant fireball whizzed towards Seth's head and before he could even react Roman grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him down out of harm's way. The grass was hot and itchy below him but all Seth could really focus on was Roman's body shielding his. He looked up, his eyes locking with Roman's. There was a moment where everything seemed to just fade away. The entire world was gone, leaving them and this charge, this inescapable charge that filled Seth's ears with a loud buzzing. He had to something he needed to do something...

"IDIOTS!" Naomi's yelling broke the moment. "GOD DAMN IT WHAT DID I TELL YOU!"

Cooper, Antonio and Chris ran for their lives, leaving everyone to laugh as Naomi got out of her chair to chase them down. Roman got up to his feet and then helped Seth up, brushing the grass off him as he did so. "You okay?"

Seth nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Hey Ro you got more beer in your fridge?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah go get some." Roman sat back down in his chair, his grey eyes drifting in the direction Naomi had run off in.

"Think she'll really kill them?" Seth asked as he sat back down as well.

"I think we'll all be disappointed if she don't." Dolph took the liberty of answering before Roman could.

"Girl don't fuck around," Roman agreed.

"Should we take a bet on how she kills them?" Cody asked with a grin. "I call for dismemberment."

"Ooooh dismemberment is good." AJ nodded eagerly. "I'm on Cody's team here."

"I say she gets in a car and runs them over." Seth decided to jump in on this. "Crushes their skulls with the tires and makes their eyes pop out of their head."

Jey made a face. "That is absolutely disgusting why-" His voice suddenly died and his eyes locked on to something behind Seth and Roman. The pair turned around and saw Jimmy had come back without the beer but with Roman's phone instead. The look he was giving Roman made Seth's stomach drop.

"What's the matter?" Roman asked. "What happened?"

Jimmy cringed and held the phone out for Roman to take. "...It's Dean."


	4. Chapter 4

_Roman stepped out of the bathroom, freshly showered and clad only in his boxers. His parents were out of town and his brother was staying the night at his girlfriend which meant he had the house to himself. If it had been the weekend he would have immediately thrown a party but with football practice to go to before school started tomorrow, he was instead gorging on tacos and watching Law and Order reruns on TV. Not the most exciting of nights but he figured it could be worse. The reruns were at least not the ones he had seen twenty times which was a plus. He stretched out on the couch as he ate and watched TV, his brother's boxer puppy Max jumping all over him to try to steal his food. "Knock it off," he grunted. He moved the dog off the couch only to have the animal jump right back up stubbornly. "Seriously?"_

_Max wagged his tail and lunged for his taco._

_"Hey!"_

_Someone knocked on the door. Roman groaned and got up, making sure to put his food well out of Max's reach He went to the door and opened it to find Dean standing on the other side of it. His light brown hair was completely disheveled, most of it in his eyes and leaving Roman to wonder how he could even see. His nose was just gushing blood, covering his lips and chin and staining the front of the blue hoodie he was wearing. "What the fuck?" Roman's eyes widened._

_"Hey." Dean wiped some of the blood away with the back of his sleeve. He tried to sound casual but it didn't work so well. Not with the way Roman knew him._

_"What the fuck happened to you?" Roman pulled Dean into the house before any of the neighbors could poke their heads out the window and start gawking. __He closed the door behind them and led his bleeding friend straight into the kitchen. Max started barking immediately. The puppy hadn't taken to Dean despite the fact he came over quite a bit. Dogs in general didn't seem to do well around him. He didn't even torment the animals, though he did curse at them and sometimes Roman heard him mumbling what sounded like threats. It was nothing he ever paid much attention to. __Dean was always mumbling something and most of it was nonsense anyway._

_______"Got hit," Dean replied. The song and dance he was famous for was about to start again. He put on this entire act of not wanting to talk about his problems and getting angry when Roman pried at him but that was the entire point of him coming over. He'd get upset, violence of some sort would usually ensue and then he'd come running to Roman, looking to have it all dragged out of him. He couldn't just ask for help or start unloading on his own. It was almost like he didn't know how._

_"By who?" Roman sat Dean down on one of the chairs and __snagged a dish towel. _

_"An asshole." _

_"That's real specific." Roman snagged one of the dish __towels by the sink. "You weren't picking a fight with Wyatt and his __boys again were you?" He wiped the blood off Dean's face before __tilting his head back and covering his nose with the towel, __pinching his nostrils to try to stop it from bleeding anymore. Dean __was mumbling something about being able to do it himself but that __went ignored. "I'm not getting jumped again just because you don't __know how to keep your mouth shut."_

_"I didn't do anything to fucking Wyatt." Dean gave Roman an __insulted look even though they both knew he was a complete __instigator in any given situation. "Mom's new boyfriend was trying __to steal my wallet. I kicked his ass for it." _

_"He must have got a lucky shot then." Roman knew very well __Dean could have and probably was lying in his insinuation that he __had come out the better in this fight. He had seen Mrs. Ambrose's new __boyfriend and he was much bigger than the scrawny boy filled to the __brim with bravado. There was no point in calling him out on it __though. Roman knew damn well that Dean lived a miserable enough __existence as it was. If pretending he was a badass made him happy __and they weren't in a situation where it was going to get them both __in major trouble then Roman just rolled with it._

_"Yeah..." Dean let Roman finish cleaning him up, a flash of __disappointment coming into his blue eyes when the larger boy __finished and went to throw the dirty towel in the laundry hamper. __An unspoken tension began to rise within the room. It made both of __them uncomfortable. Each of them tried to speak to break it but the __words failed them. Roman tried to shake it off. He tried to shake __off the desire to go kick the shit out of the guy who hurt Dean, __tried to shake off the desire to just pull Dean close and tell him __to stay with him forever, where it would be safe. He tried to shake __it all off because it was crazy. Dean was his friend and nothing __more. Doing or saying half of what he wanted was crazy. _

_"Ro?" _

_"What?" _

_Dean opened his mouth to say something but words failed him __for once. Blood started __dripping from his nose once more and Roman cursed, turning to go __get another towel. The break in eye contact fueled Dean's __confidence. He closed the distance between them, turning Roman back __around and broke the tension with a kiss. Roman's heart nearly __leaped up to his throat but the confusion on his end didn't last __long. He returned the kiss eagerly, his hands pulling Dean close as __he deepened the kiss. His tongue explored Dean's mouth eagerly, his __cock stirring as a moan escaped Dean's mouth._

"Ro are you taking the phone or not?"

Roman blinked. He hadn't even realized how far into memory lane he had fallen. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and with the exception of Seth he knew what they were thinking. They didn't want him to take the phone. They had watched him and Dean fall apart and then watched him break after Dean had left. They were still angry over that. Hell Roman was still angry. But as angry as he was, he couldn't deny the surge of relief that went through him upon hearing Jimmy say Dean was on the phone. The whole time they had been apart he hadn't known if Dean was still alive or if he had died in some ditch somewhere. He glanced at Seth as he tried to collect his thoughts and felt guilty upon seeing the look on his face. He looked so confused, uncertain of what to say or do. Roman couldn't give him any answers. He didn't even know what to do himself. He was torn between giving in to his anger and telling Dean to fuck off and snatching the phone back and begging him to come home.

Roman swallowed hard and kept his expression as neutral as possible as he got up. "Give me it." He didn't actually wait for Jimmy to hand the phone over. He just snatched it out of his hand and went into his apartment, locking the door so he could have some sort of privacy. He put the phone up to his ear and took a deep breath to try to collect himself. "Hello?"

"Roman?" It took all that one word for Roman to figure out Dean was all fucked up. He sounded so far gone he was barely recognizable.

"Jesus fuck Dean." The relief that Roman had initially felt gave way for more anger. This was the shit Dean had chosen over him. The fucking drugs. Part of him hated Dean for it but truth be told, he hated himself even more because he hadn't been able to stop Dean's downward spiral. He hadn't been enough. If he had tried harder he could have...no. He couldn't do this to himself anymore. Dean was a grown man. He had made his choice and fucked him over. He fucked them both over really. "Why the fuck are you calling me?"

"Because..." There was more actually said but Roman couldn't even begin to understand it. He was mumbling too low under his breath.

"Because why? You know I hate talking to you when you're like this." Roman could never understand why Dean did this to himself. He knew the situation he had grown up in but Roman would have thought that would have scared the slightly younger man away from the drugs. Yet there he was, so far off the mark that it wasn't even funny.

"I just want to see you." Dean was rambling but he was at least doing it loud enough for Roman to be able make out the words. Those words right there were such a far cry from what he had said the last time they had been together. "I gotta see you Roman I'm sorry."

"...What?" Dean was not one to throw out apologies. Never. Not in any of the years he had known him had Roman ever heard him say he was sorry without having it dragged out of him.

"I just wanna see you Sami's gone they fucking killed him-"

"WHAT?" Now those words caught Roman off guard. "What are you talking about?" He gave Dean all of two seconds to answer before a barrage of questions flew out of his mouth. "Who killed Sami? Are you in fucking trouble?" Dean still wasn't giving him any real answers and Roman was getting angry for an entirely new reason. "Are you in fucking trouble Dean? Where are you?" He hadn't really met Sami but he could imagine all the trouble Dean could have gotten himself into. Of course, it was entirely possible that the drugs made it so he didn't even know what he was saying but Roman didn't know if he could risk that. He was angry at Dean he wanted to throttle him but that didn't mean he wanted something to actually really happen to him. "Dean where are you?"

"Mom's old stomping grounds," Dean replied with a bitter chuckle.

"Stay put then. I'll be right there." Roman had a feeling he was going to regret this but he couldn't help himself. As he grabbed his keys he tried to justify what he was doing to himself. Maybe he could actually get closure out of all this. Maybe he could say all the things he had wanted to say and even if they fell on drugged out deaf ears it would all be off his chest and he could finally really move on.

...

The street corner Mrs. Ambrose used to work at wasn't actually that far from the bar Roman was working at now. Dean was still there, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his torn baggy jeans. His hair was a complete mess and large purple bags had formed under his bloodshot eyes. The white t-shirt he was wearing looked to be two sizes too large and once Roman got out of the car it really hit him how much weight Dean had lost. He had been losing weight before he had taken off, too busy popping pills and drinking himself into a hot mess to eat and clearly that had continued on. "God damn it Dean." Roman slammed the car door shut behind him. "The fuck have you been doing to yourself?" He didn't expect an answer. One wasn't actually needed because it was obvious. The shock of seeing how bad it had gotten just made him have to say it out loud.

Dean gave him no response. He just stared at him, pinpoint pupils fixated on Roman's grey eyes.

"Dean!" Roman took a step closer and snapped his fingers in front of the smaller man's face. "What the hell is going on? You said someone killed your little boyfriend-"

"He wasn't my boyfriend," Dean mumbled.

"Who killed him?" Roman didn't know whether he believed Dean or not but there were more important matters to actually get to. "What happened? Are they after you? What did you guys do?"

"Why do I gotta do anything?" Dean took his hands out of his pockets to start waving them around. "Why do you always accuse me of stuff?"

There was a whole list of reasons to be given but Roman wasn't even going to go there. "Just tell me what happened."

"I don't know!" Dean began to pace back and forth. "I don't know I just fucking..." His hands went up to his dirty, greasy hair and gripped it tight. "We had people over he got stuff. Good stuff. I passed out and when I woke up everyone was gone and he was dead." He let go of his hair and started motioning at the ground, as if Sami's dead body was actually in front of him. "Fucking vomit everywhere and he was fucking dead..."

There was actually more said but Roman didn't even hear it. He didn't need to. There was no murder and he felt stupid for even buying into Dean's words at face value. "He overdosed." He stated it simply, barely surpressing a shudder. He remembered Dean's overdose perfectly well. He had come home from work to find Dean barely breathing on their couch and he had started throwing up in the car on the way to the hospital. Roman had been there at least to make sure he didn't choke but clearly Sami hadn't been so lucky. "Nobody murdered him. The fucking drugs killed him."

"No-"

"Yes!" Roman grabbed Dean by the arms and shook him. He could feel himself slipping down into the same useless fight that had plagued the tail end of their relationship. "You fucking know he overdosed. Don't be fucking stupid."

"I'm not stupid don't fucking call me that."

"I didn't call you stupid I said don't be stupid."

"Oh fuck you Rome!" Dean tried to rip himself out of Roman's grip but he couldn't. He was too weak. "Let go of me. I hate you go away."

"You're the one who called me." Roman was growing increasingly aware how fragile Dean felt under his grip. How pale he had become. How lifeless his blue eyes had become. _He's dying. He's dying and he knows it._

The realization hit Roman like a ton of bricks. He couldn't even dismiss it. Dean was barely coherent but Roman couldn't deny the feeling that Dean knew it just like he now knew it. That was why he had called. Even in his most fucked up state, despite everything they had gone through and all the terrible things they had said to each other the last time they had been together, Dean's instinct to turn to him had remained. And there he was, answering the call. That old habit hadn't died yet.

"Fucking threw me away." Dean's statement made Roman groan. "You threw me away you fucking did. You promised you wouldn't-"

"Sending you to rehab wasn't throwing you away!" Roman shook him again, harder this time. "I fucking wanted you to get better! You needed help. You still need help."

"I don't need anything." Dean tried to wiggle out of Roman's grasp. "I don't need you I don't need anyone."

"Oh you don't? Is that why you called me? To show me what a bangup job you're doing?" The words were nasty and harsh but Roman was angry. He was angry and he didn't know any other way to make Dean listen. He didn't actually want Dean to die he had to make him listen. "Yeah you're doing great. You're just well on your way to meeting the same god damn end as Sami and your mom-"

"Mom?"

Roman froze. _Oh god._ Dean didn't know. He couldn't have known it happened after he had left. In his anger he had completely forgotten about that.

"What happened to my mom?" Dean was almost whimpering. It threw Roman off because for as long as he had known Dean, he had always had a volatile relationship with his mother. He had resented her for choosing drugs over him and making him grow up faster than he should have. His childhood had consisted of watching her get high and whore herself out while dodging the fists of many of her boyfriends and trying to keep her head from being ripped off by pimps and drug dealers. Yet there he was, looking like a scared little boy because he lost his mother in the grocery store or something. "Rome where is she she's not-"

"She overdosed about three months after you left." Roman held on to Dean still. He could see the other man's legs trembling there was no way he was going to be able to stand on his own. "They found her in her boyfriend's bathtub."

"And you didn't call me?"

"You were gone!" Roman growled. He was not even about to let Dean give him shit for this. "I couldn't tell you anything! You left! You chose the drugs over me just like she chose the drugs over you!"

There it was. The new twist on their argument because he actually said it this time. The truth of the statement silenced the both of them. Roman waited to see what Dean would do. He waited for the denial and the anger and the screaming. It never came though. The weight of everything seemed to be crashing down on Dean at once. He squeezed his eyes shut as his legs tried to give out completely from under him. He would have fallen if he wasn't being held. Roman thought he was about to cry but there were no actual tears. Just a scream. An agonizing scream that sound like it had to hurt his throat.

"Dean please..." Roman pressed their foreheads together and shook his head. "Don't be like her. Don't be like Sami." He wasn't even really thinking about the consequences of what he was about to say. He didn't think about how Dean could interpret this later or what his family was going to say. He just had to do something. "Let me help you. Give this up and come home. Just come home."

The silence that followed that plea was even longer than the one that had come before it. Dean looked up at him, his eyes searching for something. Roman just looked at him, trying not to promise too much. He didn't know what he wanted to give Dean beyond life. He wasn't even trying to grasp the full scope of his feelings because they were just too complicated. The only thing he really understood was that he didn't want Dean to die. He didn't want him laying face down in a pool of his own vomit somewhere. He could admit to caring too much to want that.

Dean finally nodded. Roman didn't know whether he was agreeing because he really wanted the help or he just was too tired to fight. It didn't matter at the moment. Roman just needed to get him back to the apartment. He could deal with all the rest later.


	5. Chapter 5

Roman's departure had dampened the mood and the party had broken up soon after. Seth was the only one still outside, silently walking around the parking lot bouncing a basketball he had found. Nobody had seen Cooper since he had escaped Naomi's clutches, Cody had taken off to spend the night with Randy and Dolph and AJ were getting much needed alone time because Seth was too restless to go inside. He tried to just focus on the sound the ball made every time it hit the pavement but it was hard. Even with the sun tucked away for the night it was still stifling hot. His eyes and head hurt from not sleeping. He needed it so bad but every time he closed his eyes nightmares followed. He wanted to forget but nothing allowed him to. All he could ever seem to remember was stumbling upon the sight of the burning, wrecked car that belonged to his family as he had been walking home from Jimmy's and having to be dragged away by police officers so the fire fighters could retrieve their mangled burned bodies without him seeing.

Seth let the ball bounce away in favor of reaching up and slapping himself across the face. The sharp sting brought him out of that trip down memory lane. He couldn't keep dwelling on it. Nothing changed for the better when he did that. Jimmy had dumped him because he had been so miserable to be around though Dolph had continuously told him that was a reflection of how selfish his ex had really been. Everyone here had been more understanding but hestill didn't want to sink that low and bother anyone again. It wasn't worth being totally abandoned once more.

Seth reclaimed the ball and started bouncing it once more. There was no hoop to shoot it into so instead he just walked back and forth with it, looking down the driveway every time he went by it. He was looking for Roman's car. It was stupid but he was. He had honestly enjoyed talking to the other man earlier, thankful that AJ and the others had forced the situation. They had talked so easily once they got going and there had been that moment where he was sure they would have kissed if Naomi hadn't accidentally broken the moment. Yet now that was all gone. The phone call from Dean had taken Roman away and nobody knew where he was now. He hadn't told anyone where he was going, which had left everyone to argue about where he had gone. AJ, Jimmy and Naomi had been furious, firmly believing he had gone to Dean. Jey, Dolph and Cody had said maybe he just needed to be alone, that the phone call had only upset him and he needed to go chill. Seth suspected though they were only saying that to make him feel better. He himself had stayed quiet on the situation. What could he even say? He was disappointed but where did he have the right to say shit? Tonight had been the first time he and Roman had even really talked. He had no claim on the guy. Anyone would have stronger ties to their ex rather than him. It was his own damn fault for being such a coward.

A car finally turned into the driveway and started the long drive up. Seth moved to the steps leading up to his apartment, sitting down on the bottom one and tried to play with the basketball as casually as possible. The car turned out to be Roman's and Seth couldn't stop the immediate elation in his chest nor the smile that spread across his face. He watched as Roman got out of the car, the smile disappearing quickly when he saw the look on his face. His face looked as tense as his body, worry and confliction written so plainly a blind man could have seen it. Roman slammed the car door shut and then just stopped. Seth thought for a moment that he had been seen but that wasn't the case. Instead Roman just leaned forward against the car, pushing his forearm against the vehicle and resting his forehead on it. Seth lingered back, unsure of what to do. It felt wrong to intrude but his concern started to win out. He set the basketball aside and slowly got up to his feet. "Roman?"

The larger man nearly jumped at the sound of Seth's voice. "You okay?" Seth asked as he approached. He could see a little relief in Roman's grey eyes but it wasn't enough to make him actually relax.

"I uh..." Roman rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long breath. For a moment Seth thought he was going to lie and say he was. "I don't know." There was a more honest answer. He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long sigh. "I haven't figured that out yet."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm not gonna really have a choice."

Seth frowned in confusion. Roman stepped out of the way and pointed into the inside of the car. Seth looked and frowned. Slumped over in the passenger seat was a passed out, dirty, unkempt guy in baggy clothes. "Is that..." Seth looked back and forth between Roman and the guy. "Is that Dean?"

Roman nodded.

"...Oh." That was all Seth could think to say. He didn't know why he was surprised. Everyone seemed to have been expecting this. He had been too yet the reality of it was a rather unpleasant slap to the face. "So you two are-"

"No," Roman quickly answered. "No no god no." He ran his hand over his face. "It's not like that. He just thought he had someone after him and I thought I'd get closure. Cuz we were a thing. I don't know if someone told you but-"

"AJ did," Seth confirmed.

"Figures she would." Roman leaned against the car, his gaze alternating between Seth and Dean. "I just...when I got to him he was all fucked up. I couldn't leave him out there alone." He was explaining all this when Seth hadn't even asked. Not that Seth was going to stop him. He didn't think he could. He didn't think he should. It looked like Roman needed to say it. "I think he's dying I couldn't leave him."

"Shouldn't you take him to a hospital then?"

Roman shook his head. "That's what made him leave to begin with. He needs help not another reason to run."

Seth didn't argue that point. He could understand that and he had a feeling that Roman was going to have more than enough fights on this subject when everyone else became aware of it. He decided not to be an asshole and add to it. "You need help getting him inside?" The question surprised the both of them. Seth hadn't planned on saying them. They just flew out before he could stop them. He tried to play them off casually, like he was just trying to be helpful and not actually just desperate to keep spending time with Roman that he would do it with a drugged out ex-boyfriend sleeping nearby.

"Yeah." Roman was quick to accept the offer. He handed Seth his keys. "Unlock the door and I'll carry him in."

Seth did what he was told, going up ahead of Roman while he got Dean so he could get the door open and waiting. Roman held Dean in a wedding carry, his strong arms easily holding the rail thin man. Seth let him go in first before following. He shut the door behind them and locked it. The room was dark and Seth fumbled for the light switch. He found it and flipped it up, getting the light on just in time to watch Roman lay Dean down on the couch. The look on his face was a mix of too many emotions to be readable. He raised his hand and for a moment Seth thought he was going to hit the sleeping man. Instead he moved Dean's hair out of his eyes instead. He was more attractive than he had looked in the car. There was almost a boyish quality to his features, one that would have been more realized if his face wasn't so gaunt from weight loss.

"You want a beer?"

Seth blinked and looked at Roman in surprise. "What?"

"A beer. You want one?" Roman's gaze wasn't unreadable anymore. The look in his eye, the mere way he asked the question screamed that he was stalling. He didn't want Seth to leave yet. Whether it was because he had suddenly realized he didn't want to be left alone with Dean or actually wanted Seth's company was the only part that was unclear. It wasn't something Seth was going to question. He wasn't into pushing his luck.

"Yeah sure." He grinned as Roman flashed a smile and went to the kitchen. He let his gaze go around the living room. Despite being the same size as his, it felt so much bigger. Of course Roman didn't have five people's things cluttering the whole place up. It was clean, almost meticulously so. The only other piece of furniture in the room besides the couch was a beaten up recliner. The entertainment center stood against the wall in front of the couch, holding a TV, some DVDs and a Playstation 3 with some games stacked near it. "You got a Playstation?" Seth asked in surprise. Nobody in this place had one as far as he knew.

"Dean stole it from somewhere," Roman answered from the kitchen.

"You didn't ask where?"

"I didn't want to know." Roman could be heard opening cupboards. More than beer was being fetched. "Put in a game if you want. Or Netflix. I don't give a shit."

Netflix was the winner in that scenario. Seth knew his penchant for screaming during games he'd wake up the entire building if he got started. He grabbed the controller and turned everything on before sitting down on the floor in front of the couch. Roman returned with two beers and a giant bowl of chips. Despite having the possibility of the chair Roman planted himself on the floor next to Seth. "I hope you like the nacho cheese kind."

"I do." Seth snagged a few and shoved them into his mouth as he tried to decide what they should watch. Roman's recent watch history was filled mostly with action movies, which Seth didn't find that surprising. "How are you even supposed to pick?" he finally asked. Too many choices. There were entirely too many choices at his fingertips.

"You just gotta go with something," Roman replied. "You'll sit here all night if you think about it too much."

"Shit..." Seth chewed on his lower lip as he kept scrolling. "Fuck it." He picked Spider-Man and handed Roman the controller. "If you hate it you can change it."

"It's fine." Roman took the controller and set it aside. "I like the first two of these ones." He shoved a handful of chips into his mouth. "Third one sucked ass."

"Thank you!" Seth threw his hands up in the air. "Cody's tried to tell me it didn't but I'm like dude, I'm not stupid."

Roman laughed. "Shit typically falls apart right around the third film. Spider-Man 3 sucked, The Dark Knight Rises-"

"Really? You thought that sucked?"

"Maybe not sucked but fuck man, that shit was just too fucking long."

Seth couldn't counter that argument. Their conversation died off in favor of trying to focus on the movie. The key word for Seth though it was try. It became harder and harder as the movie went on. The bowl of chips got moved on to Roman's lap and somehow they ended up practically on each other halfway through the movie. It wasn't a conscious move on Seth's part and he didn't think it was on Roman's part either. Yet there they were, arms pressed together and Seth's leg draped over Roman's. He hadn't even realized he had done it for quite awhile. Once he did he almost moved it but Roman's voice distracted him from actually doing so.

"Do you like living here?"

Seth blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Living here?" Roman shrugged sheepishly at having to repeat the question. "Do you like it?"

"It's fine yeah." It was Seth's turn to shrug now. "It could be worse." He took a long drink of his beer. He only had drank about half of it but he could feel it going to his head. There was a reason he hadn't been able to hang with the party crowd in high school. He was such a lightweight that it wasn't even funny. "Better than where I was before." He figured Roman knew Dolph had found him out on the streets. Everyone knew that part. Pluck a scared, starving kid out from behind a dumpster and it became news.

"Do you got any family?"

"No."

Roman cringed at the way he answered. "You want to talk about it?"

Seth shrugged. "My family's either dead or not talking to me. What's there to talk about?" He took another drink of his beer. "What about you?" He'd rather the subject get off of him as fast as possible when it came to this issue. "You seem close to your family."

"Eh." Roman shook his head. "That's just with Jey and Jimmy. Everyone else avoids me unless it's the holidays."

Seth frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah." Roman's tone matched the one Seth had just taken the one Seth had used. He didn't feel comfortable talking about this stuff either. Seth decided to get them off the subject completely.

"You want to watch something else?" The movie wasn't quite over yet but he wasn't feeling his choice anymore. "You can pick this time."

"Yeah sure." Roman stopped the movie and started flipping through the stuff he had already watched. "You uh...you ever seen Breaking Bad?"

Seth shook his head. "We lack cable and Netflix I can't watch shit TV wise."

"Shiiiit man..."

"Is it good?"

Roman grinned as he started up the first episode. "You'll thank me for this later."

...

"What if Roman hasn't seen him? What if he ran away? Oh god what if someone kidnapped him? What if he got taken away and they want ransom? Cooper's been giving Barrett blowjobs in exchange for our rent we don't have money laying around!"

Naomi groaned and slapped a palm to her forehead. "Baby girl please." She gripped AJ's hand tightly to make her stop. It wasn't even seven in the morning and she had been roused by a frantic AJ who couldn't find Seth. Why she hadn't just bothered Dolph hadn't been answered. All Naomi knew was that she had to dig out the keys to Roman's place and see if maybe, just maybe they would find him there. That was the only other place in the building they thought he would go. Naomi hoped he was there and not just for her sanity's sake. A twinkle always came into Roman's eye whenever Seth was around. She hadn't seen that out of him in ages. She wanted to see more of it.

"I'm serious here Nay."

"About the blowjob thing too?" Naomi shook her head as she stuck the key in Roman's lock. "Because that's a mental image I never want to see again."

"Try walking in on it."

If Naomi would have had anything in her stomach she would have thrown up. At least Cooper's good for something. "Just be quiet okay? You don't need to scare him by shrieking up a storm."

AJ cutely made a motion for her lips being sealed. Naomi rolled her eyes before leading them inside. She briefly considered turning on the light but then stopped herself. The light coming in through the curtains let them see all they needed to. Dean was sprawled out on the couch, his body a pale, sweaty, shaking mess even as he slept. Roman and Seth had fallen asleep sitting up, though in their sleep they had both slumped over towards each other. Seth's head rested on Roman's shoulder while Roman's cheek rested on the top of Seth's head. A bowl of Doritos and two beer bottles laid overturned on the floor. One of the bottles hadn't been completely empty so all the liquid had sank into the carpet. The TV was still on, the screen asking them if they wanted to continue the episode, start from the beginning or exit out of the episode of Breaking Bad they were on.

"Well..." AJ pouted her lips and hugged Naomi's waist. "We sort of got what we wanted."

Naomi followed her gaze which was directed at Roman and Seth on the floor. Neither one of them wanted to comment on Dean. Not until Roman woke up so they could ask him just what the hell that was about. "Yeah." She wrapped her arm around AJ's shoulders and squeezed. She almost felt like a proud parent watching the two sleeping men. "I guess we did."


	6. Chapter 6

"You can't be serious about this Roman!"

"You've got no business doing this man. How are you supposed to help him? You're no doctor."

"I know I'm not but-"

"What if he wants to get back together with you? He fucking stomped on your heart how can you just forgive that?"

"What if you do get back with him and he relapses? Can you go through all that again?"

"Guys back off a little. He knows what he's doing."

The voices were so loud. Dean felt like they were screaming right in his ear. He groaned and put his hands over his ears to try to block them out. Pain was what had woken him up. His muscles ached something fierce. His arms, his legs-everything hurt really. None of the pain though was as bad as what he felt inside his stomach. Horrific cramps were what had woken him up to begin with. It felt like someone was taking his internal organs and twisting them and pulling them into knots. Nausea had hit him hard but he was trying his best not to throw up. He hated puking. Half the time just doing it made him sicker than he was when he started.

A flare in his cramps made him moan and let go of his ears in favor of clutching his stomach. His entire body was drenched in sweat yet his arms were covered in goosebumps. The voices were still carrying on. Talking about him. All but one sounded familiar but he couldn't place them. His mind wasn't clear enough to. Most of his days were spent in a haze anymore. Get up, take pills, have some drinks, take more pills, eat if it was that time of the week, take pills again and then crash...pills oh god he needed his pills. He forced himself to check his pockets and found nothing. Why didn't he have them?

"I have to help him Jey. I owe him that."

"You don't owe him anything Roman!"

Roman. Hearing that name for the second time actually make it break through his brain. Roman. He had called Roman for help. And Roman had come through the ever reluctant knight in shining armor. The last thing he remembered was Roman telling him to come home. To get off his path and come home before he died. He must have accepted it because now he knew the couch he laid on. He knew those voices. AJ, Jimmy, Jey, Naomi...and one mystery. One enigma eluded him but he couldn't be bothered to try to recognize it. He wanted Roman. He needed him as badly as he needed his pills. He didn't want to need them though. He didn't. Deep down he knew that was why he had called Roman. He had known what had really killed Sami and it gave him a dose of reality. But it all just hurt. It hurt so bad he couldn't do this. Not alone. He needed Roman he always had. Roman was his strength. He had never really had any of his own, no matter how much he pretended to. It had always come back to Roman.

Dean rolled off the couch and landed with a thump on the floor. Immediately he regretted the decision to move. The nausea hit him full blast. There was no holding back now. He scrambled to the bathroom on his hands and knees, barely getting his head into the toilet bowl before he started puking. There was nothing in his stomach but bile to begin with and he felt the back of his throat burning with every heave. He tried to call out for Roman but nothing came out except for a heave. His eyes watered and he felt his nose run, the snot dripping down to his lips and making him even sicker. He felt someone come up to him, a pair of hands touching him but they weren't Roman's. Instinctively he jerked away. He forced himself to stop puking and whipped his head up, ready to tell off the person the hands belonged to.

Brown eyes widened when blue eyes met his. Dean and the younger man both froze. Wide brown eyes stared at him almost fearfully...but shit they were beautiful. He was beautiful whoever he was. Black and blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, leaving his innocent, almost angelic face exposed. "Are you okay?"

Dean didn't answer. It was a stupid question really. He was puking his damn brains out but somehow he didn't snap. The concern caught him off guard. The only person who ever really showed him any was Roman. Others pretended and he wanted to write this guy's off as nothing more of the same. Yet there was a genuineness there that seemed real. It seemed so real but it couldn't be. He was just imagining it. He had to be.

"Dean?" Roman came in and closed the door before any of the others could come peeking in. His appearance came right as Dean threw his head back into the toilet and he sighed. "Oh shit." Roman stepped around the other man so he could stand behind Dean and rub his back. Despite having nothing left all Dean could do was heave. Over and over he violently heaved until he nearly collapsed face first into the water in exhaustion. He gripped the cool toilet to stop himself and tried to catch his breath. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the mystery man's gaze was now on Roman. He immediately did not like the look. He craned his head back to Roman just in time to see Roman had been looking back at him. Roman's head snapped back quickly when he realized Dean was looking but it was too late. The stolen glances had been spotted. A sharp pang shot through his chest followed by anger. Irrational anger was his specialty and now he wanted to rip the pretty boy's face off. Roman was his...though was was actually the key word. He had thrown Roman away. There had only been one good thing in his pathetic life and he had fucked it all up. And now Roman was looking at this other guy, stealing fucking glances at him like they did in high school before they started dating and he just wanted to fucking die right there on the spot. Even if Roman actually forgave him for all his shit how could he ever compete with someone so god damn pretty? Someone that looked like they had angels flying out their god damn ass? No. He could never compete. Even if he had never fucked things up with Roman he wouldn't have been able to compete.

"I still got a bunch of his clothes in a box in my closet," Roman told the other man. "Can you dig them out while I get him in the shower?"

The other man nodded and left the room. Roman watched him go and Dean watched Roman, scowling by the time Roman looked back at him. "Who is that?"

"Seth." Roman's tone told him to drop it but Dean wasn't very good at listening.

"How long have you been fucking him?"

Roman groaned. "We're not even dating don't start."

There was a bit of relief that washed over Dean in hearing that Roman and Seth weren't a thing. Yet it wasn't much because he could clearly see Roman liked the guy. He wasn't hard for Dean to read at all. Jealousy made his stomach churn and he stubbornly swatted Roman's hands away when he tried to help him get undressed. "I can do it myself," he grumbled.

Roman sighed and took a step back. "Fine." Irritation could be seen in his grey eyes but he wasn't going to let Dean pull him into a fight. Instead he turned the water on in the shower, getting it disgustingly hot like Dean preferred. Dean stripped and managed to get in the shower by himself. Those two simple acts though drained him of what energy he had. He couldn't even just stand there for his shower. He tried but his legs began to tremble underneath him and Roman forced him to sit down. He didn't object this time. Instead he pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, letting Roman take off his blue polo shirt and grab the shampoo and soap and start washing him. Roman's hands and fingers worked diligently to wash the dirt and grime off him. He leaned into the touch, wanting to say a million things but none of it was coming out.

"I'm sorry..." That's what finally left his mouth. He looked at Roman, hopeful for some sign of forgiveness. Roman just froze uncomfortably, his eyes softening at the apology. He didn't say anything back though. It didn't seem like he knew what to say. Dean took the non-answer as a rejection and he quickly looked back down. "Why are you even bothering?" he muttered. He almost didn't realize he actually said that out loud.

"Because..." Roman wanted it left at that but Dean could never leave anything alone.

"Because why? You hate me now-"

"I don't hate you." Sighing deeply Roman rubbed his thumb over the scar on Dean's shoulder blade. "I tried to." He shook his head as Dean stiffened. "What do you expect man? You turned everything I did against me and then just left."

"I said I was sorry..."

"It don't take the shit back Dean!" Roman shook his head in frustration. "I want you to get clean and be better but that doesn't mean I can just sweep all the other shit under the rug. I just can't."

Dean didn't say a word the rest of the time he was in the shower. He just let Roman care for him like a lifeless doll. Irrationally he was angry at Roman but he was angrier at himself. He had destroyed his own life and now he didn't know how to fix it. Or if he even could. _What a great thing to get sober for._

A knock on the door signafied Seth dropping off Dean's clothes. Roman helped Dean get out of the shower and get dressed before having to practically carry him back to the couch. "You need to eat," Roman said as he laid him back down on the couch.

"Naomi made breakfast," Seth said helpfully. He came bearing a can of ginger ale which he offered to Dean. Dean stared at it distrustfully and Seth frowned in confusion. "It's just pop," he said slowly. "I didn't do anything to it." He turned it so Dean could see the top of the can. "See? Unopened."

Dean reluctantly took the can. He didn't want it really but he had to have something to settle his stomach. The smell of the food coming from the kitchen was about to make him sick all over again.

"I'll just get you some toast." Roman thankfully saw him actually eating a whole meal was going to be impossible right then. He went to the kitchen to get it and Seth followed him like a fucking puppy. Dean watched them, seeing the delighted looks on the faces of AJ and Naomi. Wonderful. They would be sure to rub it in his face that he didn't stand a chance when compared to Seth. Maybe he just needed to go. He clearly was just in the way. Before he could muster the energy to get up and just take his leave Roman was back. He handed Dean the plate and sat down on the floor next to the couch. "I didn't have the crunchy peanut butter or the cinnamon," he said, referencing the way Dean usually liked his toast. "You gotta deal with raspberry jelly."

"You still don't eat grape like a normal person?" Dean opened the can of ginger ale and took a small sip out of it. He forgot how much he hated the taste of it.

"There's nothing wrong with raspberry." Roman smirked as Dean picked up the toast and sniffed it cautiously. "It's good to know you're still weird as shit with your food." There was affection in his voice, whether he meant there to be or not.

Dean put the toast up to his lips. He didn't want to eat it. He felt like dog shit he just wanted to roll up in a ball and die. Yet he forced the food down anyway to please Roman. Roman was sitting with him he wasn't going away he had to do something to make sure that it stayed that way. His stomach was cramping violently once he finished and with a groan he pulled himself into the fetal position. Roman took the ginger ale from Dean and set it on the floor so he wouldn't spill it anywhere. He took the plate next and got up, heading to the kitchen to put it in the sink. Dean tried to reach out and stop him but he wasn't fast enough. His arm dropped and he groaned, not noticing Seth until a blanket being thrown on him. "...The fuck?"

Seth just smiled softly and put a puke bucket down beside the couch. Dean just stared at him. His first thought was to take the bucket and hit him upside the head with it. A voice in his head screamed Seth was just doing this to impress Roman. Yet something about him seemed so sincere. Roman wasn't even watching them and here he was still, being all nice. Dean had no idea what to even do with that. Seth was saying something but his brain couldn't process it. His eyes fluttered shut and his body relaxed as he mercifully passed out.


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't get it," Cody declared. Seth sighed. He was trying to stock the new comic books on the shelf but Cody deciding to come for a visit while he was on break wasn't leaving him much room in getting things done.

"What don't you get?" Seth asked, deciding to humor his friend. Thankfully his boss Mr. Van Dam was totally chill (thanks to the substantial weed he smoked in the storeroom) and didn't care all that much about having other people come in to hang around.

"The whole thing with you helping Roman take care of Dean."

Seth groaned. "Do we have to talk about this?" He felt like he had gone over this a thousand times already. "Weren't you there when Dolph was talking to me about this?"

"I was watching Avengers with AJ you know I wasn't listening." Cody leaned against the shelf, deliberately putting himself in front of the spot that Seth needed to get to. "You don't feel weird at all taking care of the ex of the dude you've been wanting to get chummy with for like a decade?"

"I haven't even known Roman for that long-"

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"Isn't it weird for you to be babysitting your potential boyfriend's ex?"

"Yes," Seth finally confessed. He had been lying to everyone else but Cody had finally bugged the truth out of him. "It's weird alright? But what am I supposed to do? Enough people are being an asshole to Roman about the situation."

"They just don't want him to get hurt."

"And he just doesn't want Dean to die." Seth forced Cody out of the way so he could continue with his work. "He's said fifty million times over this doesn't mean they're getting back together. Yet they're practically treating him like he's a criminal for it."

"I'm not saying they're right." Seth's defensiveness over Roman put Cody on the defense. "Shit was just bad alright? Jimmy and them are just real protective over Roman now because of it."

"AJ's been real awful about it."

"I think she's worried that if Dean does get better you're gonna have competition," Cody admitted. "Which you will because if there's one thing Dean ever loved it was Roman." He shook his head apologetically as Seth stiffened. "Look, I'm being honest with you. I love you and I actually like Dean. He's a fucked up dude but he wasn't a complete dick until his whole drug use thing spiraled out of control."

"Why are you even telling me this?" Seth finished putting the comics on the shelf and moved the now empty box they had come in so he could get to the next one.

"Because you need to strike while the iron is hot for you." And there it was. Matchmaker Cody was coming out to play now. "You like Roman. He likes you. Yet you two are being total pussies about it."

"I am not-"

"You are a total pussy," Cody insisted. He reached forward and placed a hand on each of Seth's shoulders. "It's okay though." He nodded reassuringly, completely ignoring Seth's glare. "Roman's been one too you're not alone. One of you has to knock it off though. You're driving us all completely nuts." Cody began shaking Seth so hard he nearly knocked him into the shelf. "You gotta ask him out."

"Me?" Seth shook his head quickly. "No no no-"

"You like him."

"Yeah but-"

"So you can ask him out. It'll be good for you." Cody finally stopped shaking Seth but he didn't let go of his shoulders yet. "You can't go through life never taking the first step. That's just not going to work."

Seth knew he was right but he didn't say anything. It just felt so weird to even think about. How was he supposed to know when a good time to even do something like that? Was there a good time even with Dean around? Dean...fuck he was a can of worms that confused Seth. There was a lot of resentment from a lot of ends when it came to Dean. Yet Roman had refused to really display any of that. He was the one who had ever right to but he didn't. Not unless he was doing it while Seth wasn't around. As for Dean himself, Seth wasn't sure what to think of him yet. The withdrawal was making him horribly sick. It was day three of his withdrawal and it didn't seem like he was getting any better. Seth didn't really know how to help and the mix of vibes he was getting from him wasn't making him feel too great. Any time he tried to do something nice for the guy he got the most baffled, distrustful looks he had ever seen. If he was too near Roman he got death glares but when Dean seemed to think he wasn't looking then...well Seth didn't know how to describe the vibes then.

"Does AJ got this one?"

Seth blinked, Cody's voice jarring him from out of his thoughts. "What?"

"This one." Cody waved the Deadpool comic he was holding around. "I need ideas for her birthday. Does she got this one?"

"I don't know man. You got to ask Dolph these things." Seth actually knew that she didn't have it but that was what he was going to get her so he didn't want Cody stealing his idea. "She needs the new issue of The Walking Dead get her that."

"Maybe I'll steal that Chucky doll I saw. She loves that shit."

"No!" Seth swung and punched Cody right in the chest. "Don't you dare!"

Cody laughed. "Why are you scared of Chucky? Those movies were so stupid."

"You're scared of leprechauns so don't tell me I'm stupid." Seth glanced up at the clock and winced upon seeing the time. "Dude you're gonna be late."

"What?" Cody looked up and groaned. "Shit!"

Seth rolled his eyes as he watched Cody run out the door. The rest of his shift passed without incident. Once he was off he went outside, expecting to have to start the excruciating walk home. Dolph had been able to give him a ride to work but that wasn't in the cards now. The temperature had soared over a hundred degrees. The oppressive heat wave was never going to end. The moment he stepped outside it felt like he was getting baked alive. For a moment he thought about just going back into the shop to just wait for Dolph but when he caught sight of a familiar car whose owner was standing by it. He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening in surprise. "Roman?"

"Hey." Roman's grey eyes lit up and his mouth curved into a smile. His sleek black hair was pulled back into a bun, letting Seth see every detail of his perfectly handsome face. It wasn't even fair how attractive he was.

"What are you doing here?" Seth could do nothing to stop how big his grin got as he approached the older man. The heat that felt so smothering just seconds ago barely felt like anything now.

"I was running errands and I thought maybe you needed a ride home." Roman shrugged innocently.

"Oh yeah?" Seth's grin got bigger as he played along. "This idea just suddenly popped into your head?"

"Yeah."

"You're a terrible liar." The accusation was one made out of amusement. Seth was flattered. He really was. A tinge of pink was forever going to color his cheeks but he wasn't so worried about that now. "You got air conditioning in here?" he asked as he approached the car.

"Of course."

"Kick ass." Seth got in the passenger's seat, letting out a long, content sigh as the coolness hit him. Roman got back in and chuckled as he saw the look on Seth's face.

"Does the shop not have air conditioning?"

"It does but this feels nice." Seth buckled himself in and they were off. One of the local classic rock stations played on the radio though Seth for the life of him couldn't tell what song was going. This stuff wasn't really his style but unlike when he was with Dolph he wasn't going to start demanding a station change. He had other things on his mind anyway. "Are you hungry?"

Roman was caught off guard by the question. "What?"

"Are you hungry?" Cody's words about making the first move were echoing in his head. And maybe he wasn't really doing that now that Roman had picked him up but then again, a simple ride home was different than the direction he was about to take it. "I mean I'm hungry and I just got paid. I was gonna stop and get something to eat." No he hadn't been. He had been planning on saving the money Mr. Van Dam had given him in advance to get AJ's present once he double checked to make sure there was something she didn't want more than the comic that would be in his price range. "We could um...stop and eat together." His face couldn't have been any more red if he tried and he hated it. He hated being so damn bashful. Everyone made it sound so easy to be confident and just ask people out but he couldn't do it without looking like a damn tomato.

"Yeah sure." Roman was kindly ignoring Seth's uber red face. "It'll be my treat."

"But it was my idea."

"And I owe you. You know, for everything." His eyes clouded over for a second with the indirect mention of Dean but then he shook it off. "Have you ever been to Eddie's?"

Seth shook his head. He didn't even know what that was.

That answer was not acceptable to Roman. He made a quick left turn and off to Eddie's they went. Eddie's was a family owned Mexican restaurant that was on the other side of town. Eddie Guerrero and his family had opened it just a few years ago and through word of mouth it had actually become a local favorite. Despite being just before dinner time they got there to find the parking lot quite full already. Seth let Roman lead him inside. Despite the bustling activity there was still a very intimate feel to the place. Photos of the family hung on the wall by the register, which was being run by Eddie's wife Vickie.

"Where have you been lately?" Vickie waved Roman and Seth over to the counter so she could come around and give Roman a hug. "I was starting to think you didn't like us anymore."

"I'm sorry I've been busy." Roman let her give him a kiss on each cheek before stepping out of her grasp. "This is Seth."

"Oh aren't you just adorable." Before Seth could even say a word he was the one in getting hugged and kissed. The affection caught him off guard but he rolled with it. Once she let him go she and Roman chatted a bit more before she called over her daughter Shaul to seat them. Since Seth couldn't drink Roman ordered sodas while Seth watched the mariachi band set up in the corner.

"Do they have these guys all the time?"

"Sometimes." Roman had his back to the band so he had to twist himself around so he could start pointing to the members. "Hector and Mando are Eddie's brothers." He pointed to two others. "I don't know them but I know they're cousins of the family." He moved his finger towards the final member. "And that's Eddie's nephew Chavo." He moved his hands towards the empty space in front of the band. "During lunch they have tables set up there but when the band comes they move them towards the back so people got room to dance."

"Sweet." Seth snagged the menu Shaul had set down for them and began to skim through. "What's good here?"

"Everything."

"Well you're not any help." He had been looking to narrow down his choices, not open them up. As he tried to decide his eyes kept flickering toward the band. "I wanted to start one of those once."

Roman took a glance back. "A mariachi band?"

"Band of a non-mariachi variety."

"Why didn't you?"

"I can't sing and the only guitar I can play is Guitar Hero." Seth shrugged sheepishly.

Roman grinned. "If it makes you feel any better my grand plan to get into the NBA got ruined upon finding out I can't shoot a basket to save my life." Someone he knew passed them but he only gave them a little wave as to not take his eyes off Seth. "I could do football real well. Had a scholarship to go play for Georgia Tech and everything."

Seth frowned. "And you didn't go?"

"I didn't really want to go that far away." That meant he hadn't wanted to be away from Dean. He didn't want to say it but Seth wasn't stupid. "I tried to do the community college thing but I got sick of school and dropped out." He shook his head and looked to see if Shaul was coming back over yet. "Were you gonna do the college thing?"

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. I told my parents I was taking just a year off to work and get money for it but I think just really was buying time to tell them I didn't want to go." His eyes went back to the menu and he decided to just go with the tacos for his order. It was the simplest and safest bet.

Shaul came back with their drinks and took their orders. Once she walked off again they kept talking, absorbed in their own world despite all the activity around them. They talked about Seth's ability to do "flippy shit" as he called it because his sister wouldn't go to gymnastics class without him. Roman confessed that he couldn't really swim and the protests that followed Seth's offer to teach him gave way to the conclusion that Roman had an actual like phobia when it came to swimming. Their food came but they were so busy talking Shaul had to come over and remind them to eat. They shut up after that, stuffing their faces quickly while Shaul laughed and gave a status report to Vickie. The band had started up at this point and once they were done eating Seth got up and grabbed Roman's hand. "Let's dance," he said as he practically pulled Roman out of his chair. Maybe Cody's words earlier had really gotten to him or maybe he was just emboldened by how well things were going but it seemed like he was maybe getting the hang of the first move thing.

If Roman had any objections he didn't voice them. He let Seth lead him out to the floor, which had become quite crowded while they had been lost in their own world. They could barely find a place to stand without feeling like they were about to walk on someone else. Roman finally just wrapped his arm around Seth's waist and pulled him in close. Seth let out a small gasp and suddenly he forgot the entire reason they were out there to begin with. Everything around them faded away. It was only them and the buzzing. It filled his ears and spread through his whole body, making him so very aware of how little space there was between them. Seth tried to think of something to say but no words came out. He just stared at Roman, his heart practically pounding in his chest. Roman had to be feeling it. Hell, Seth was sure the entire world was feeling it. He tried to swallow but his mouth was completely dry. His body was instinctively moving to the music despite him barely being able to hear it over the buzzing. It kept getting louder and louder and more powerful, making him nearly shake. Roman's grey eyes were unreadable. Seth wanted to ask if he felt it too or if he was just going crazy but words still failed him.

Roman mumbled something under his breath. Seth didn't know what it was but it didn't matter. Roman's lips found his and he melted into the gentle kiss. His arms rested around Roman's neck and he managed to kiss Roman back, bolts of electricity shooting through his veins the entire time. Despite the fact that there was no earthly reason as to why this was Seth would have sworn on his life that Roman tasted like cherries. It wasn't something he minded in the least. Really forgetting where he was he moaned and deepened the kiss, ready to jump up and hook his legs around Roman's waist. The sound of applause stopped him and he and Roman quickly broke apart. The band had finished their song and everyone was applauding. Seth sighed in relief that they had gone ignored and he felt Roman relax too. As the next song started in they looked at each other and Roman was the one to speak.

"You want to try to actually dance this time?"

Seth thought about it for a moment before just going for it and pulling Roman in for another kiss. Roman could decide for himself if that was a yes or a no.


	8. Chapter 8

"They say actually getting up and being active helps you know."

Dean's only response to Jimmy's advice was a grunt. Roman was out running errands and had been gone for longer than either one of them expected. Roman didn't want to leave Dean alone while he was still suffering so Jimmy had taken up post and had been on his laptop the whole time. His version of helping was searching stuff about withdrawal on Google though Dean also suspected that he was less than thrilled about the choice Dean had made for their Netflix viewing.

"I'm serious man." Jimmy wasn't dropping the subject. "You were fucking yourself up on opiates so your body don't make endorphins anymore. You gotta exercise to get that shit going again."

Dean groaned. "I can barely get up to go to the bathroom without wanting to collapse. How the fuck am I supposed to go work out?" He forced himself up on his elbows so he could look at the other man. "I mean really." He didn't stop himself from sounding nasty. He was completely irritable and he had heard the stuff Jimmy and the rest had been saying about him. And while it wasn't totally undeserved it still pissed him off. Getting clean was harder than he ever thought it could be. Every moment felt like a lifetime and the voices in his head screamed for him to give in. He could do better with controlling it this time they said. Just one little pill wouldn't hurt. It would just be to make the withdrawal stop. He couldn't live like this. All sweaty and cold and hurting, constantly sick and then weak because he barely ate and even drinking water made his stomach cramp. He just had to make that stop. It would be okay they assured him. Just one pill never hurt anything.

Except it would. Dean laid back down and tried to concentrate on the TV. He couldn't listen to the voices. Enough clarity had come to him to recognize that listening to them would only lead to trouble. Being weak had fucked up his entire life even more than it already had been to begin with. And to think at one time he had vowed to never screw up his life. He had been maybe five years old at the time. He had laid on the mattress in his room, the one ratty old blanket he had pulled up to his chin and had made this vow while listening to his mom getting the shit kicked out of her in the other room. What he hadn't realized then that there was no real escape for guys like him. If you were born a street rat you would always be one. Violence, drugs, poverty, misery-one or more of these things had always followed them. Typically all of them actually. And he had no way of knowing of how to get himself out of it. Roman had been the closest he had to salvation and he had fucked that up in only a way he could.

"What the fuck are we even watching?" Jimmy finally asked. His eyes were on the movie that was so low-grade that it couldn't even be considered a B-level one. This was nearly at an F it was that awful.

"Nude Nuns With Big Guns," Dean answered.

Jimmy blinked incredulously. "...Why?"

"Because."

"It's nice to see your terrible taste in movies hasn't changed." Jimmy put down his laptop, now seemingly morbidly curious about the film Dean had put on. "Roman's gonna kill you when he sees what's recommended for him because of this."

Dean only shrugged. At this point he wouldn't mind that. The voices were getting louder, not taking being ignored lightly. _You need the pills. Nobody here gives a damn about you. Roman's off crushing on that pretty boy he don't really care if you go off and take them again. He's lying when he says he don't want you to die. He's too nice to say it but he'd be relieved if you went. They'd be happy and you can be happy too. _

Dean bit down on his tongue and clenched his fists. The jolt of pain gave him a reprieve but it wouldn't last long. The voices pounded themselves into his brains, making him feel even worse than the actual withdrawal did. He had to figure out how to make them stop. He needed Roman but he showed no signs of coming home. How long did it take to run errands? Was that what he was even doing? Or was that just his way of saying he was actually going to be off with Seth. Jealousy immediately burned through him at that thought. That was probably what it was. Roman was off with the angelic bastard. Dean closed his eyes, unable to get chase away the mental pictures that flashed through his mind. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He was so fucking stupid. He shouldn't have let Roman go. He would never do any better. And then there was Seth...shit he still didn't know what to think about Seth. He was still all fucking nice for some reason and he was fucking gorgeous and it wasn't fair he had Roman. Dean couldn't compete with that. He wasn't pretty and he certainly wasn't a nice guy. The niceness kept bothering Dean. Nobody was that nice without wanting something. Question was, what did Seth want out of him?

_Nothing. He just wants Roman. He's helping you because Roman told him to and he's going to rub what he's got in your face the moment he gets a chance. _

"Dean? Are you alright?"

Dean blinked. He hadn't realized but he had been muttering under his breath. In lieu of answering Dean forced himself to get up and stumbled to the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and took several deep breaths. The fucking voices in his head wouldn't stop. "Fuck." He had to do something. Fucking anything. He went to the shower and threw back the curtain. His eyes darted around, falling to the razor sitting there. He didn't want to do this thing but he had to. Clearing his head out had always required drastic measures. Violence, sex, loads of booze and drugs-none of which he could have. So this was gonna be it. It wasn't something he wanted to do. It was too Cooper like for his taste but biting his tongue again sounded like an even worse idea. He grabbed the razor and held it tight, taking a nervous glance to the door. Jimmy was leaving him be for now. Knowing he had to do this where it wouldn't be seen, he undid his jeans and shoved them down enough to where he could get to his inner thighs. He pressed the blade against his skin. The voices were louder now, screaming at him to just give in. He sucked in a deep breath and slashed upwards hard, expecting the blade to be dull because it had been the night before when Roman had tried to shave his face. In his hurry and mental fit though he had forgotten Roman had said he was changing out razors and this was an all new, extra sharp one that sliced him not only easier but deeper than he intended.

"Fuck!" Dean dropped the razor and placed both hands over the wound. The voices went silent and blood seeped through all over the palm of his hand. "Fuck fuck fuck!"

"Dean?"

Dean's eyes widened. That wasn't Jimmy. "Rome?" When the fuck had he come home?

"Dean what are you doing in there?"

"Nothing!" Dean grabbed a rag and used it to try to put pressure on the wound. "Nothing I'm fine."

"Dean seriously." Roman knew him too well. He tried to get in but the door stayed lock. "Dean open this door."

"I'll be out in a minute." Dean winced as he took the rag away to look at the wound. The blood was slowing down but it wasn't stopping fast enough. "Just-JESUS!" He nearly had a heart attack as Roman broke down the door. It hadn't really hit him of just how not trusted on his own he really was. Privacy was not even going to be afforded to him without permission. "God damn it Ro!"

"What the hell is-DEAN!" Roman's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he saw the cut and the blood soaked rag. He immediately grabbed Dean and sat him down on the closed toilet. "What the fuck were you doing?" He put his own hand over the wound, clamping down so tightly Dean winced from the pressure. "What the fuck were you doing is this a fucking joke?"

"I just had to make it stop." Dean hated it when Roman yelled at him. He could take an awful lot but never Roman's yelling. It made him defensive which usually made Roman yell more and then it would always spiral into a clusterfuck of a situation.

"Make what stop? Your life?"

"No! My head." Dean tried to push Roman off him. He couldn't handle being this close to him but not having him. All he managed to do though was leave a bloody handprint on Roman's shirt. "I just had to clear my head I wasn't fucking trying to kill myself."

"Slicing yourself open means clearing your head?"

"I forgot it was a new razor. I thought I had to do it harder to just make a little cut."

"That's still not a good thing Dean!"

"It's better than fucking using isn't it?" Dean tried once again to push Roman away. "I'll clean myself up just go away."

"No."

"Roman just go what the fuck do you care-"

"Hey!" Roman slapped both hands on to Dean's face, getting the blood all over Dean's cheek. "You're here aren't you? Do you think you would be if I didn't care?"

"Sure." Dean had to drive him away. He had to get him away before he kissed him. If he kissed him Roman would reject him and he couldn't handle that. Not now. "You get to be the big martyr, putting away your hurt feelings to save the train wreck."

Roman shook his head. "You are ridiculous." He got up but instead of leaving he grabbed the first aid kit. "If we're doing this we're teaching you new coping skills. Yours absolutely suck."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do? You get mad when I punch a hole in the wall, I can't fuck you and I fucking did THIS-" he angrily jabbed his finger to his thigh "because I can't fucking use." He laughed bitterly. "Do you even get how hard this is?" He licked his bottom lip, completely unaware of Jimmy standing in the doorway. "Every second I just want to fucking have a god damn pill. It fucking screams at me telling me to do it." He started smacking the side of his head, blue eyes burning holes through Roman. "Use use use they say. Use use use one doesn't hurt. It does but they say it don't." He smacked himself harder. "I can't have them but I want them. I don't want to want them but fucking look at me!" He laughed again. "The drugs were gonna kill me but so is this. I still can't eat. I still can't sleep."

"It'll get better-"

"When?"

"I don't know."

"Well that's great. That's really great."

"Dean you _have_ to stay positive." Roman started cleaning the cut, his hand steadying Dean and making sure he didn't jump up as he did so. "You got to remember why you wanted to get clean to begin with."

"After this fucking bout of hell I'm not real sure if I'm scared of dying anymore."

Roman looked stricken by those words. "Don't say that shit."

"Why not?" Dean ripped himself out of Roman's grasp and stood up. "I'm not saying I want to but I'm sure as fuck not swimming in reasons to be alive and sober."

"You have me-"

"Bullshit I do!" Dean ripped himself out of Roman's grasp. "I don't have you." He forced himself to get up, ignoring how exhausting that bit of effort was. "I fucking tossed you away and fucked up the one good thing I ever had. And now you got some pretty boy and you get to rub it in my face-"

"I'm not rubbing anything in your face!" Roman tried to grab him but got his hand slapped away. Jimmy was still watching from the doorway, completely silent as the argument raged on. "We haven't done anything in front of you how are we rubbing it in your face?"

"The goo goo eyes you two constantly make at each other aren't exactly subtle," Dean snapped. "But I get it. I fucking deserve it and you fucking deserve someone who's not a fuck up." Dean finally turned his attention to Jimmy and it was the mother of all death glares. "I don't need you fuckers to help remind me of that." He stormed out of the room, finding the strength to nearly knock Jimmy on his ass as he went. "I get the god damn message."

"Dean!"

Dean ignored Roman and stormed into the second bedroom that served as Roman's storage room. He slammed the door shut behind him and flopped down on the bed. He half expected Roman to follow him and was both disappointed and relieved when he didn't. It was just as well. He didn't have the energy to fight. He just wanted to go to sleep. God he just needed to sleep.

...

Roman kicked Jimmy out and called in sick to work before pulling out the bottle of bourbon and firing down shot after shot. It was amazing how fast he had gone from feeling so happy to feeling like absolute shit. His date with Seth and the kiss they shared had left him absolutely blissful. He was falling for the two toned man. Had been for awhile really. He was beautiful, both inside and out. So sweet, so innocent despite what he had gone through. He knew why everyone was pushing for them to be together. He wanted it to and he already planned to ask him out again. Maybe they would do dinner again or go to the movies. He didn't know. He couldn't really think about it now. His mind and heart were aching for Dean, who still hadn't come back out of the other bedroom.

It was amazing how Dean still had a hold of him despite of everything. Dean seemed unaware of it but it was there. How could it not be? Dean had been his first. First love, first kiss...first in everything. Everyone focused on how toxic they became before he had taken off that they forgot what it was that Roman had fallen in love with. Even Dean had forgotten but he hadn't. The charming trouble maker who couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his life. The twinkling blue eyes with the nearly radiant smile when he actually allowed himself to do so. The loner and the skeptic, who was kicked down his whole life and was stronger in ways Roman knew he himself never could be. Even though his demons got the best of him Roman knew there were things Dean had gone through that would have eventually broken down anyone. Wild and passionate and possibly a little out of his mind but it was okay because Roman was the voice of reason. He had been Roman's backbone when coming out, both to his family and their friends. Roman knew he wouldn't have made it through that backlash without Dean. Being with Dean had made it worth it, though he nearly lost him then due to Dean smashing in Curtis Axel's face after he heard him call Roman a faggot. They had fought about that afterwards but Roman was lying whenever he tried to claim he wasn't touched by it. When he had forced himself to date girls in an effort to deny his sexuality he had always been the protector. It had been nice to have the tables turned, even though Dean himself needed that kind of stuff a lot more than he or any of the girls he knew did.

Roman kept throwing back the shots, getting himself as drunk as he possibly could. Once his world was spinning he abandoned the bottle and stumbled into the living room. Dean was back on the couch now, right back to watching his terrible movies on Netflix. He had seemingly broken out of the funk he had been in earlier. Roman plopped down next to him and tried to just watch the TV. His eyes kept going back to the other man though. Dean looked so tired, so pale and ragged that Roman felt horrible all over again. "I'm sorry..."

Dean's head snapped in his direction. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

Blue eyes looked at him in total confusion. "What the fuck are you apologizing for?"

"I should have tried harder." Alcohol always loosened Roman's tongue. "I should have made you better. Why couldn't I make you better?"

"Because I didn't want to get better." Dean shook his head in exasperation. "I fucked us up and you're the one apologizing to me now. Unbelievable."

"Why didn't you want to get better?" Roman was on a roll now. Things he had asked himself over and over again the past year were spilling out and there was no stopping them. "I thought we were happy."

"We were," Dean sighed. "Maybe I just didn't know what to do with that." He stood up and took Roman's hand. "Or maybe I was just too stupid to realize popping some pills at a party could lead to anything but a good time." He tried to pull Roman up to his feet. "You need to go to bed."

"I don't wanna."

"Roman seriously-"

Without thinking Roman yanked Dean back, making him fall right on to his lap. The moment Dean landed the tension in the room spiked up high Roman's breath got caught in his throat. Even in his drunken haze he knew Dean felt it too. The air buzzed like it did with Seth earlier though it was different now. It was more raw, more primal and filled with a lot more consequences.

Lips found each other and Roman had no idea who he could blame for it later. At that moment it didn't really matter. Dean's lips were on his, dry and chapped but so needy and passionate that Roman could ignore how uncomfortable his lips physically felt. The kiss felt like home. As weird as that sounded it was the only description Roman had. His mind flashed back to the hours they'd spent making out on Dean's couch, knowing his mom wouldn't be around and if she happened to come home that she'd be too fucked up to care what they did. His hands slid under Dean's shirt, thoughts of their first time on the old mattress Dean used to have to call a bed. He had been scared to death honestly but it had been okay because it had been Dean. His fucked up little Dean could make it all okay somehow.

The memory faded and thoughts of Seth replaced them. Roman immediately felt guilty. He couldn't do this he was falling for Seth. He wanted to be with Seth.

But he still loved Dean.

But he was falling for Seth.

Dean was back though he could have Dean. He never wanted to lose him to begin with he had him now. He could pretend it all never happened.

No he wanted Seth. Seth was amazing he was this ball of light that didn't fucking dim no matter what. He wanted to wrap Seth up in his arms and keep him forever.

"You're too drunk for this shit." Dean broke the kiss, oblivious to Roman's conflict because he had his own. As much as he clearly didn't want to he got up and once again tried to pull Roman to his feet. "Move it before I take advantage of you."

Roman groaned but complied, letting Dean help him to the bedroom. They nearly fell twice before Dean managed to get Roman into bed. Roman didn't even bother trying to get under the covers. Instead he watched Dean lean against the bedside table, feeling bad as the other man tried to regain his bearings. He looked awful. Roman didn't know what to do. He had no idea how long this withdrawal was supposed to last. Jimmy's big Google research on the matter but nothing helpful had really come from that when it came to recovery time. It seemed to be different for everyone but the words weeks and even months had popped up in their conversation and that scared the shit out of Roman. He didn't think Dean could take feeling like this for that long. He didn't know if he could stomach watching it.

"Come here."

"No go to-hey!" Dean tried to squirm away as Roman wrapped his arm around Dean's waist and pulled him into the bed. "Fucking shit Rome!" He grunted as he was placed Roman's left, glaring as the other man threw covers over them. "I put you to bed for a reason asshole."

"I'm not gonna do anything." Roman kept a tight grip on Dean as he tried to get comfortable. "You just sleep."

"I"m not tired."

"Sleep anyway."

"Why?"

"You look like shit."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You just don't trust me without a babysitter."

That played a role in it as well but Roman really just wanted Dean to sleep. Beyond the first night where he was just passed out there hadn't been much of that going on. The withdrawal had obviously played a role in keeping him up but Roman knew Dean didn't really sleep if he was alone. He used to sneak into Roman's house and pretend to just pass out so he wouldn't have to sleep at home alone and when they moved in together and Roman started working nights Dean changed his entire sleeping pattern just so he wouldn't be in bed alone.

He kept his eyes on Dean, trying to will him to fall asleep first. The kisses from both him and Seth started replaying themselves in his mind. He felt guilty for kissing Dean when he had just gone on a date with Seth. Yet he felt guilty for leaving Dean alone with his family to suffer so he could go on dates. The guilt trailed off and he wondered what it would be like to snuggle with Seth in bed. He hoped he wasn't a blanket hog like Dean.

He tried to make a mental note never to drink bourbon so fast again because it fucked up his entire thinking process but he didn't quite manage it. The thought got lost halfway through and he finally just closed his eyes, passing out before he could see Dean's little smile or feel the gentle kiss placed on his forehead.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why don't you just go out there?" Dolph came up to stand next to Seth, smirking in amusement when he saw what the other man was looking at.

"I'm gonna." Seth munched on the chocolate chip cookie he had in his hands, his eyes not even beginning to look at Dolph. He was much more fixated on what was going on outside. Roman had wrestled the hose away from the kids who had been playing with it and was now using it to wash his car. He had changed into his swim trunks not only in case he got wet from the hose but it was just so disgustingly hot and humid out that nobody could run around with much clothes on and be comfortable. AJ had been wandering around in her bra and panties all day, talking about how it was supposed to rain and maybe cool down for at least a day or two. Clouds did seem to be coming but the only thing that had come with them so far was the humidity. Not a welcome contribution to their misery, to say the least.

"Oh yeah?" Dolph draped an arm over Seth's shoulder. "When?"

"Soon."

"Soon?"

"Soon."

Dolph shook his head. "I heard you guys had a little date yesterday."

Seth couldn't begin to stop the stupid grin that spread over his face. He had told AJ about the date and in turn she had told anyone that would sit still for five seconds. "It was amazing." And it was. It really was. He had been replaying the whole thing in his head all night and all day, absolutely giddy at the turn of events. The kiss in particular was keeping his mind occupied. He had never been kissed like that. Granted, he had only kissed one other person in his life but it still didn't change how amazing Roman's lips felt on his.

"Just get out there already." Dolph snatched the cookie out of Seth's hand and pushed him to the door. "Get yourself another date."

"He don't have time he's gonna have to work soon."

"Then make out with him until then." Dolph gave him a loving kick on the rear. "I won't watch I promise."

"I will though!" AJ bounded into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Dolph from behind. She gave Seth a nice big cheeky grin. "I won't yell out the window though. I'll save that for another time."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Thanks." He went out the door as Dolph tried to reason with AJ about not actually watching like a big old creep. He headed down the stairs as quietly as possible, looking to see if he could sneak up on Roman. He got nearly halfway to him when Roman sensed his presence and turned around.

"Hey." Roman let go of the hose's nozzle and tossed it aside. "What's going on?"

Seth shrugged, acting as casually as he possibly could. "Not much. I just uh thought you could use some help or something." Lame. He felt totally lame yet there he was, smiling like an idiot. Thankfully Roman smiled back at him and it was all good.

Roman looked at his car and shook his head. "I think I got this pretty much done." His eyes went back to Seth, the grey orbs twinkling as inspiration hit him. "I could use someone to go to the movies with me on Saturday. You think you could help me out?"

Seth grinned. Someone could have walked up to him in that moment and hit him across the face with a sledgehammer and he would have barely felt it. "I can do that." He barely noticed his feet moving him, closing the distance between him and Roman. It felt like now that they had conquered the making the first move hurdle it all was just spilling out so easily. "I wish you didn't have to go tonight." He pouted and put his hand on Roman's chest. "Maybe I could have taken you out." No he couldn't have why did he have to keep offering this? Desperation to hang out with the older man was going to bite him right in his broke ass if he wasn't careful.

"I might have to call in." Roman ran a hand over his hair. "Naomi was supposed to stay with Dean tonight but now Jimmy's dad wants to take them out and now I don't got anyone to keep an eye on him."

"I could do it." Whoops. There Seth went again opening his mouth. "I don't got anything to do."

Roman grimaced. "I can't ask you to-"

"You're not asking me. I offered." This was true. Roman really didn't ask him to do anything in regards to Dean. Anything he had done he had offered on his own. "I'm gonna be benefiting off your money on Saturday I might as well make sure you earn it."

Roman stared at him, contemplating the offer. Seth waited patiently, big brown eyes looking at him so earnestly that Roman's response was to grab both sides of Seth's face and kiss him. Seth accepted the kiss eagerly, moaning as Roman's tongue slid into his mouth. He was assuming this meant he was accepting the offer but he wasn't sure. He'd ask later.

...

Unbeknownst to Roman, Naomi had gotten a call from her mother and she had to go get the woman her prescription, leaving Dean truly on his own for the first time since Roman brought him home. Her absence let him release a long breath. The world didn't explode, he didn't run off and get a thing of drugs; today was a little better than the others. Maybe it had been because he actually got to sleep or just maybe it was the Roman effect but he actually felt sort of okay. It probably wouldn't last but it let him get up and get in the shower and grab the bread and cheese cubes from the kitchen before sitting back down. He switched on Night of the Living Dead on Netflix but paid hardly no attention to it. He had seen it about a million times. When he had been a kid he had rented it from the Blockbuster by his house at least three times a month. He could recite the whole thing by heart if needed.

In lieu of actually watching the movie he folded his legs Indian style and focused his attention on the food. He still didn't have much of an appetite but there wasn't a whole lot of eating going on with what he was going to do. He grabbed a cheese cube and set it on his leg while he tore up a piece of bread. Crumbs were getting everywhere but Roman could kill him later for it. Concentrating far harder than anyone should with this kind of thing, Dean started to wrap the cheese cube into the bread. Where this particular habit came from he had no idea. He just knew he was never happy until every single inch of cheese was covered yet still perfectly cube shaped. It was tedious as hell, which was actually good in this case because it kept him occupied. Being occupied meant he didn't dwell on things like wanting to use or the fact that he was still sure Roman had been out with Seth yesterday or the kiss he shared with Roman...no, he was not going to touch those subjects if he could absolutely help it.

Once he got the cheese and bread how he wanted it he nibbled on it slowly. His eyes went to the TV, staying completely glued to it until it was time to fix up another cube. He repeated this process over and over, not noticing that Roman had come back in until the other man sat down next to him and tried to tease him by snatching the food away from him. "Hey!" Dean slapped his hand away and glared. Roman knew better than to take food from him yet the son of a bitch was laughing at him. "Fucker. It's mine."

"I bought it though." Roman tried to grab a cube out of the bag only to get his hand slapped again. "Seriously? I can't have one?"

"You're the one bitching that I'm not eating but now you wanna steal my food. I see how this is." Despite his words he handed the bag to Roman. "Just take it and let me starve."

"You are so overdramatic." Roman took one and shoved the rest of the bag back at Dean. "Where's Naomi?"

"Her mom called and she left."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "She left you by yourself?"

Dean groaned. "I'm sitting here eating cheese and watching zombie movies. What has gone wrong here?"

"What if you needed something?"

"Well your whole life hasn't seemed to stop because of me so why should anyone else's?" The distraction the food had brought him was going right out the window. As much as a part of him craved it he hated being babied. He didn't know what the fuck to do with it so he instinctively rejected it. "You were out there washing your car." He started ticking things off with his fingers. "You go to work. You're out fucking Seth. "

"I'm not fucking Seth."

"You're doing other shit with him then." No immediate denial came from him and Dean felt an immediate stab to his heart. "Does he know you kissed me last night?"

"I didn't-"

"_You_ initiated that shit don't you fucking even start." Dean was not going to take the fall for that one. Roman had been drunk and had started that shit. Not him. "Fucking asshole don't you dare blame me." He snatched the bread and the cheese and stormed back into the kitchen, practically hurling the items back where they belonged.

"I'm sorry alright?" Roman got up to follow Dean, wincing as the refrigerator door slammed shut in front of him.

"Sorry for trying to blame me or sorry for kissing me?"

"I'm just sorry alright?"

"Sorry for what?" Roman's response wasn't good enough. Dean needed him to just say what he really meant. He wasn't in the mood to play the guessing game.

Roman glared at him. "Stop trying to trap me with this shit. Why does it all have to be a fight with you?"

"It ain't about fucking fighting Rome." Dean slammed an open palm against the counter so hard he hurt himself but he didn't let that show. His blue eyes blazed angrily at Roman. "I don't want to fucking play games with you."

"I'm not playing games."

"Oh yeah? You're off with Seth but then you'll still come home and get drunk and kiss me? And then you act like nothing happened and you go off and do whatever it is you do with Seth all over again?" The hand that Dean didn't have on the counter curled up into a fist. "Doesn't that sound like games to you?"

Roman looked down. He didn't offer an argument. He wasn't vindictive enough to intentionally do any of the things Dean but he was starting to do it nonetheless. "What do you want Rome?" Dean tried to make it simple. It should be simple. Roman either wanted to be with Seth or he wanted to get back together with him. Dean himself prayed for the second option but internally he laughed at himself. He saw no competition between him and Seth. He was trash he always had been.

He readied himself for the rejection but nothing came. Roman just looked at him, confusion written clear as day on his face. He wasn't answering because he couldn't answer. He didn't know. Somehow he didn't know what he wanted. "God damn it Ro." That was it. That was all Dean could really say. The wind had been taken right out of his sails.

"I'm-"

"I'm gonna pop you one if you say you're sorry again." Dean actually wouldn't do that but fuck he hated apologies. Especially when they wouldn't do jack shit. Apologizing wouldn't clear up the confusion on Roman's part. It wouldn't take away the hurt he could very well cause if he didn't make up his mind or stopped doing shit while he was trying to decide. "Do I got any smokes left here?" Fuck it. He wanted to forget that he had said anything to begin with.

"I think I threw them all out." Roman gave him an apologetic look as he groaned. "You shouldn't be doing that shit anyway it could kill you."

"Fucking everything can kill you. Smoking, booze, drinking too much water, sucking dick-"

"What?" Roman gave him an incredulous look.

"I know a guy who died sucking dick."

"How the fuck did he die sucking dick?"

"Well he was sucking it and then the owner of the dick's husband came home and shot them."

"So it wasn't actually the dick that did it?"

"Sure it was. If he hadn't sucked it he wouldn't have gotten shot." Dean shook his head in exasperation. "Cause and effect Roman. They taught us this shit in science."

Roman raised his eyebrows. "I don't remember them going over that."

"Because you didn't pay attention."

"You didn't either!"

"I must have if I remember it."

Roman rolled his eyes. "I can't with you."

"Love ya too Rome." The words slipped out before Dean could stop them. They both froze once they realized what he said. Four little words felt like a gunshot that ricocheted all through the small apartment. _Shit. Shit shit shit_. Dean tried to scramble for a way to recover and stop the horrendous awkwardness that rose between them but ended up just bailing out of the room, busying himself with looking for cigarettes that wouldn't be there. _Stupid stupid fucking stupid_...

...

Seth arrived at Roman's apartment to find Roman tense and Dean throwing stuff around in Roman's room, cursing up a storm about having no cigarettes. Roman was shaking his head and Seth had a feeling he and Dean had been fighting but he didn't pry. Roman clearly didn't want to talk about it. Roman did promise to try to get off early and gave Seth some money to order a pizza. Once more he asked if Seth was sure he wanted to do it and Seth assured him it was fine. But once Roman went out the door he wasn't so sure of his decision. He hadn't ever actually been really alone with Dean before and if his yelling was anything to go by he was truly in a volatile mood. He took a deep breath and bit the bullet, following the yelling to Roman's room. He knocked on the door before going in though Dean didn't hear him at all. He found the older man throwing stuff out of the closet, his yells going down to mutters. Every other word was still a cuss word though. Seth was now certain he had never met anyone with as filthy of a mouth as he possessed. "Dean?"

"Where the fuck is it?" Dean still hadn't taken notice to Seth. That or he was deliberately ignoring him. Either way he started tossing shoes and Seth had to duck to avoid taking a combat boot to the face. "God fucking damn it Roman moving shit around fucking asshole cock sucker."

"Dean?" Seth tried again, making his voice a little louder this time.

"What?" Dean finally looked back at him. Strands of hair hung over his forehead, nearly touching the blue eyes that were looking at him in such irritation. He had put on a black leather jacket on over his white tank top but even with it he seemed to be shivering. The chills were getting to him again. Ripped up jeans completed the look and Seth was surprised by how well he pulled it off. It felt like a cliché bad boy look but maybe there was a reason it worked. The bags under his eyes didn't look nearly as bad as they had yesterday. He must have actually gotten sleep last night.

"Wh-what are you looking for?" The open hositility shown by the other man did throw him off. It should have made him mad, especially given how much he had been helping him but it only intimidated him. He wasn't good at dealing with that kind of shit.

"Stuff." Dean turned back around and resumed his search. Seth just watched awkwardly, ready to duck in case anything else came flying at him. "Aha!" Dean emerged from the closet moments later with a small wad of cash in his hands. An actual smile crossed his face, giving him a boyish quality Seth was almost taken aback by.

"Why do you have money in there?" Seth couldn't help but ask.

"People break in and steal shit. You gotta fucking have a secret stash."

"But Roman locks the door doesn't he?"

Dean stared at him incredulously. "You think locking a door stops people?"

"...Yeah?" Seth didn't know what was wrong with that answer but apparently it wasn't right. Not in Dean's view anyway.

"Oh good fucking god." The hostility gave way to amusement. "Dear sweet jesus what fucking suburbia did you tumble out of?" Dean shoved the money into his pocket. "Never mind." He took several steps towards Seth, deliberately getting too close to see what the younger man would do. Seth tried to stand his ground but he found himself stepping back instinctively. Dean smirked. "Listen kid, I know Rome's got you doing the babysitting gig but you ain't in charge here." He motioned towards his own chest. "I am. And I'm getting smokes so you can either stay here and chill until I get back or you can come with. I don't really give a shit which."

Despite his words Seth was fairly certain Dean didn't want him tagging along. He didn't call him out on that. Getting the guts to ask Roman out was one thing but getting the guts for any kind of confrontation was another one entirely. "Those things will kill you," was what he offered up instead.

Dean rolled his eyes. "So will sucking dick but that don't stop people."

Seth just stared at him in confusion. The crass statement made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever.

"Jesus fuck." Dean turned and started walking out of the room. "Come on." He was already under the impression that Seth was going to come along anyway. His offer for Seth to stay behind had only been done out of his own slim hopes. "I'll explain on the way."


	10. Chapter 10

The convenience store Dean and Seth walked to was about ten blocks away from their apartments. The walk was a silent one after Dean explained the whole guy getting shot for sucking some guy's husband's dick story. Seth didn't really feel comfortable in the silence but he didn't know the best way to break it. So he bit his tongue and kept stealing glances at the other man. Dean's eyes stayed straight ahead most of the way though any time he caught sight of someone else he eyed them like he was trying to determine if they were at threat. He had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket and his body was so tense that it actually kind of worried Seth. It wasn't like they were in the overly dangerous part of town. That began right around the bar Roman worked at and really kicked in just past the train tracks. Yet Dean didn't relax until they reached the store. Antonio and Chris were both working behind the counter, engaged in a conversation with an open magazine sitting between them. Neither one of them looked up until they reached the counter and Dean slapped his hands down on the smooth surface. Both men jumped and their eyes widened upon seeing Dean.

"Holy fucking shit." A grin spread across Chris's face. "Look at this Toni. Little Shit lives."

Dean twitched. "Don't call me that." He tried to take a look at the choice of cigarettes they had but Antonio coming out from around the counter distracted him. "Don't you fucking dare!"

Seth put a hand over his mouth to hide his laughter as Antonio snatched Dean in what was one part hug, one part headlock. Dean cursed and tried to elbow his way free but Antonio was barely phased by his escape attempt.

"Should I give him a noogie?" Antonio looked back and forth between Seth and Chris. "I haven't been able to give out a good noogie in awhile."

"I will punch you in your fucking dick if you dare," Dean threatened. He balled up his fist to do it but froze when the grip suddenly turned into a full on hug. Seth saw the flash of confusion and uncertainty on his face. The laughter in Seth quickly died out. Dean looked so legitimately thrown off by this display of affection. Seth had been having his attempts at being nice questioned through distrustful looks or refusals and had thought he himself had been the issue for Dean. Now he was starting to wonder if this was just how Dean was if it was anyone but Roman being kind to him.

"Welcome back man." Antonio patted Dean on the back before letting him go. "How are you feeling?"

"Miserable with a side of I want to fucking die." Dean gave Chris a wary look. "Tell me you don't want to hug."

"I think I'm too manly for it." Like Seth, Chris caught on to Dean being uncomfortable and spared him an embrace. "What brings you in here anyway?" His eyes went to Seth for a moment. "What are you doing here kid?"

Seth shrugged. "Just tagging along." He didn't dare say that he was supposed to Dean's babysitter. He had a feeling Dean would murder him if he did.

"I need smokes." Dean jabbed his finger to the wall of cigarettes that was behind Chris. "Jesus fuck do you guys sell anything cheap?"

"We're the cheapest you're gonna get in town." Chris grabbed a pack before Dean could even say which ones he wanted. He knew the man's habits well enough.

"Whatever. I need a lighter too." Dean put the money on the counter and grabbed the magazine Antonio was trying to look at once more. "What is this shit?"

"Tabloids." Antonio shrugged innocently at the look Dean gave him. "Zeb took away the TV we don't got anything else to kill time with." He snatched the magazine back and looked at Seth. "You want something too?"

Seth shook his head. "I'm fine." He actually did want a candy bar but the only money he had was what Roman gave him for his and Dean's dinner. He watched Dean take his purchases and his change and with quick (and mumbled in Dean's case) goodbyes they were out the door once more. Dean ripped the pack open the moment they were outside and he shoved one in his mouth while the rest went in his pocket. Fingers tried to flick the lighter to life but his hands were too shaky to get it.

"Mother fucker," Dean growled as he kept trying.

"I can do it." Seth took the lighter from his hands and lit the cigarette right up. He tried to hand the lighter right back but Dean didn't take it back. He just glared, making Seth shift uncomfortably under his gaze. "What?"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why the fuck are you being so fucking nice?" Dean snatched the lighter back, anger fueled confusion burning so brightly in his eyes that Seth took a step away. "What do you want?"

Seth blinked. "I...want you to stop glaring at me?"

"No seriously what the fuck do you want?"

"I don't want anything."

"Nobody does shit for someone without wanting something in return." Dean blew smoke towards Seth's face, making him cough and take another step back. "Or is Roman making you be nice to me? Is that it? Is his guilt trip extending down to his boy toys?"

Seth felt his face turn red. "Nobody's making me do anything." He shook his head as Dean continued to glare at him. "I'm not lying! Jesus can't anyone be nice to you without getting the third degree?"

"Nobody is nice to a guy like me."

"Well maybe they should have been because you're kind of an asshole now." The words fell out of Seth's mouth before he even realized he was going to say them. His first thought was that he was going to get punched in the face. He braced himself but the blow never came. Dean's anger turned into a smirk instead. Show him kindness and he acted like you were an alien. Tell him he was an asshole and suddenly it was all good. He was weird. Seth was officially declaring him a weirdo though that declaration at this point wasn't going to be announced anywhere but in his head.

"If you're gonna call me names maybe you shouldn't flinch." Dean clapped a hand on Seth's shoulder. "Have some balls. Say it with some meaning."

"I don't want to call you names."

"Why not? Not like it's the worst that's been done to me."

"Doesn't mean I wanna do it."

"Why not?" Dean wasn't letting the subject die. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was a test. He wanted to see how far he could push Seth. Get him to snap and do something mean. For what purpose Seth wasn't sure. Maybe that was just what he was used to and it would make him more comfortable. Maybe he just found it entertaining. "I'm sure everyone's been telling you how shit with me and Roman ended. Don't that piss you off?" He got right in Seth's face, silently daring him to do something. "Don't you want to hit me? I broke his heart and I got him running to meet me and bring me home doesn't that bother you?"

"You were dying-"

"So you think he's taking care of me out of pity?"

"I don't know!" Seth didn't know whether he should try to step back or stand his ground and shove Dean away. He was a terrible judge at these situations. It felt like a test so he almost thought he could get away with either but there was just enough of a gleam in Dean's eyes that made him feel uncertain. "I don't know how he feels about you. We don't talk about it."

"You two talk about anything even?"

"Yeah we do. Just not you." Seth didn't realize he was being backed into the wall until he hit the hot rough surface. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Dean didn't answer him at first. Instead he threw his cigarette aside and pressed himself completely up to Seth, chest to chest, stomach to stomach, groin to groin-all but their mouths were touching. Seth's breath caught in his throat and he just stared at Dean, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He didn't try to push him away. He didn't know what to do. His mind raced yet was still completely blank at the same time.

"Jesus." And just like that Dean stepped back. He got the pack of cigarettes back out from his pocket and took two out. "Does Ro know you're a virgin?"

The question caught Seth completely off guard. "What?"

"You heard me." Dean put one of the cigarettes in his mouth and offered the other one to Seth.

Seth just stared at him in bafflement. "Why would you think-"

"Come on. I saw the fear in your eyes."

"Because I didn't know what you were going to do!" Seth wasn't about to tell Dean he was right. He actually was a virgin. He and Jimmy had gotten close to sleeping together but after his parents died their intimacy did as well. "Pinning me up to a wall doesn't prove I'm a virgin."

"Sure it does." Dean pointed to his eyes. "Roman gave me that same look. I know that fucking fear." He put the second cigarette in Seth's hand and lit it without any issues. "You ever smoke?"

Seth shook his head. "I don't wanna." He handed the cigarette back to Dean. "Thanks though."

"Jesus you are just all kinds of innocent." Dean tucked the unwanted cigarette behind his ear for later use.

"I'm not that innocent." Seth couldn't help but pout. "I've done bad stuff."

"Did you not look both ways before crossing the street once?"

"You're an ass." Seth folded his arms over his chest and gave Dean the angriest look he could muster.

Dean just grinned. "Now there's that conviction I was talking about."

"I stole food."

"So have I. Fucking everyone steals food."

"I was homeless I had to live on the streets." Why Seth was suddenly feeling the need to prove himself to not be an angel shitting boy scout he had no idea. It was stupid he didn't have to do this. Yet there he was, looking for some sort of sign out of Dean that he was impressed.

"You lived on the streets?" Dean raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What, did your suburbia dream end when you told Mommy and Daddy you were gay?"

"My parents...they're not here anymore." Seth looked down and bit his lip. "Boyfriend dumped me, the rest of my family were um...well they didn't like that I was gay so I was alone." He looked back up to see Dean staring at him thoughtfully. "I did it though. I managed until Dolph found me."

Dean pursed his lips. "You get harassed by drug dealers?"

"Well no..."

"Were there any drug dealers?"

"I don't think so."

"Did you see whores on the corner?"

"No."

"Could you walk on the streets without having to worry about getting caught in a drive by?"

"Yeah."

"Then next time I'm homeless point me to wherever you were at." Dean shook his head at the miffed look Seth gave him. "Seriously I'm not fucking with you. Do you have any idea how lucky you are that you didn't end up somewhere really shitty? Pretty boys like you wouldn't have lasted as long as you did if you fell too far down the hole." He waved his hand around wildly. "This neighborhood is still shit but it's not anything compared to what's on the other side of the train tracks. You ever go over there?"

Seth shook his head.

"Good. Fucking stay away. Best case scenario you just find assholes like me running around."

Seth just stared at him, not sure what he was supposed to say to that. It didn't seem like Dean really wanted or needed an answer. He was already walking away, leaving Seth to hurry and catch up. The clouds above them got darker and heavier. Thunder started to boom and streaks of lightning flashed across the sky. "Fucking shit." Dean took the cigarette out of his mouth and rolled it between his fingers as his eyes darted around nervously. "Shit shit shit."

Seth frowned. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." The cigarette went back in Dean's mouth. "Fucking nothing." He was blatantly lying but he didn't give Seth a chance to call him out on it. He grabbed Seth's wrist and started run, having to ditch the cigarette so he could breathe while they ran. They managed to make it back to Roman's apartment just as the rain started, Dean nearly doubling over as he tried to catch his breath.

"Maybe this is why you shouldn't smoke," Seth said helpfully.

Dean just flipped him off before collapsing down on the couch. Seth winced as the older man kept coughing and wheezing uncontrollably. "Jesus man." He quickly went to the kitchen and got Dean a glass of water. "Here." He rolled his eyes as Dean tried to wave him off. "Come on. Just take the damn thing."

"Didn't I fucking tell you-"

"Just take the cup so I don't got to explain to Roman why you're dead."

Dean groaned and took the cup, downing the cold water and regaining control of his breathing. Rain pounded against the roof and the thunder actually made the windows vibrate. Each resounding boom made Dean jump despite his best efforts to not to. Seth decided to pretend he didn't notice. "Roman left money for a pizza."

"I'm not hungry."

Seth sighed. "I'm getting it anyway so tell me what you like."

Dean just shrugged. "Get whatever. I don't fucking care."

Seth wasn't going to keep arguing. There was no way he could actually make Dean eat anyway even if he got what kind of pizza he liked out of him. The food would be there if Dean stopped being stubborn for two seconds and agreed to eat. And if he didn't then he would just tell Roman he tried. It wasn't like that was a lie or anything.

Seth snagged the phone and called in the order, watching the rain through the window as he did so. He completely missed Dean getting up and taking the entire case of beer Roman had out of the fridge until he hung the phone up and saw Dean practically chugging one. "You're not going to drink all those are you?"

"No." Dean held one out for Seth to take. "You're going to help me."

Seth shook his head. "No-"

"Remember the part where I said I was in charge?" Dean got up and placed one of the beers in Seth's hand. "Drink. Maybe I'll eat if you do."

"Maybe? How is a maybe a fair trade-off?"

"It's not but it's what you're getting. Take it or leave it."

Seth groaned but opened the beer anyway. He had a feeling he was going to regret this.


	11. Chapter 11

"Jesus dude your eye looks gnarly."

Roman glared at Phil for his rather obvious observation. A fight had just broken out in the bar and while he and Phil had managed to break it up and throw the offenders out of the bar, one of them had gotten a pretty good shot on him with a shot glass. He was now sporting a rather deep cut right above his eye. The towel that Eve had been using to clean him was completely stained with blood but he had been fighting with her about going to the hospital. He didn't have insurance he couldn't afford a trip to the emergency room. He hated hospitals anyway. The mere thought of going and sitting to have stitches put in made him shudder in horror. No way was he doing it. "It's fine," he grumbled. "Really."

"Like hell it is." Eve pressed the towel more tightly against the wound, determined to get the bleeding to stop once and for all. "You'd be dragging my ass to the hospital if I was the one cut up like this. Why can't you cooperate when I try to do the same for you?"

"Because I don't need a damn hospital." Roman took the towel from her and stepped back. He felt a little woozy but he didn't let that show. If he showed that they would both be dragging him to the ER no matter what he said.

"Maybe we can super glue it shut," Phil said helpfully. The heavily tattooed man jerked his thumb towards the door. "I could go buy some and get him patched right up."

Eve glared at him. "We are not super gluing his head shut."

"Why not?" Roman actually liked the idea. He wanted to just get patched up and on his way home. He was going to be late as it was with Phil's suggested plan in place but he'd be even later if he complied with Eve's demands. And the last thing he really wanted to do was leave Seth and Dean alone together for longer than he needed to. He didn't think Dean would hurt Seth or anything but he knew Dean could be a tough pill to swallow at times, especially when he had a reason to act like an asshole. Seth and Roman's budding relationship would be more than enough reason for him to be a dick.

"Patient calls for super glue." Phil grabbed his keys and gave Eve a smug look. "I'll be back."

Eve groaned but let him leave. "I'm letting this happen under protest," she announced. "Just so you know."

"I already figured that." Roman sat down on a stool and glanced down at his shirt to make sure he hadn't gotten blood all over it.

"What if you have a concussion?"

"Relax baby girl. I'm fine."

She wasn't really convinced but she decided to drop it for now. "How's Dean?" Everyone at the bar knew Dean was back just like everyone knew about Seth. Not that Roman had told them of course. Cooper had come in high as a kite and then babbled a bunch of shit when he got drunk. Roman still meant to let him know exactly how he felt about that.

"He's still sober. Withdrawal's been rough."

"Do you think he'll make it?"

"Yeah." Roman surprised himself with how quickly he answered that. There should have been more hesitation, just from the fact that people relapsed all the time. Dean had even confessed that he was wanting the drugs but yet Roman's faith in him didn't waver when questioned. Maybe the fact that Dean had come to him for help when he had been at his lowest made him believe that Dean's will to be clean was stronger than his desire for the drugs. Or maybe he just wanted that to be the case so he was rejecting the thought of anything else. "He's stronger than he thinks he is." He let a small smile cross his lips. "He's the strongest person I've ever met honestly."

"How's Seth taking it?"

"Seth's been amazing." The smile stayed firmly on his lips and Eve raised her eyebrows. He didn't realize but there was a faraway look in his eyes when talking about the both of them. "What?"

"Nothing." Once again Eve decided to drop the subject. She took the bloody towel away from him. "Let me grab a clean one. Just stay here."

"Yes ma'am."

...

Dean polished off his fourth beer with one last gulp. Empty bottles and the box with the half eaten pizza sat on the floor while they lounged back on the couch. The beers had Dean somewhat drunk though he was far from plastered. The same could not be said about Seth though. In his attempt to keep up with Dean drink for drink he had forgotten to bring up the fact that he was in fact a complete and total lightweight. His eyes were half closed and if the mild shade of green that his face was turning was any indication, the booze was starting to make a terrible combination with the pizza. "You gonna be okay there?" The last thing Dean wanted was to be in the way if Seth had to throw up.

"I'm fine." Seth tried to polish off his current beer much like Dean had just done but ended up hiccupping mid-drink and choked instead. The can slipped out of his hand, the remains spilling all over his lap and the couch.

"Hey!" Dean quickly snatched up the can though it was far too late to avoid the mess. "I sleep here damn it!" He set the can on the floor and grimaced as Seth kept coughing and gagging. "Jesus fuck dude breathe." He reached over and gave the younger man several hard slaps to the back. "I don't know CPR so if you start dying you're on your own."

Seth gave no acknowledgement that he heard his words. He just kept coughing, eventually regaining his breath though his face was now beet red from coughing so hard. "Fuck."

"Thank god I decided to just give you beer." Dean shook his head and grabbed himself another one out of the case. "We gotta build your tolerance up though. This is pathetic."

"I'm doing fine," Seth whined. He reached down for his beer, doing his best to hold back another hiccup that wanted to break free. It ripped its way out despite his efforts and his shoulders jerked violently from it. "Fuck you!" He sat back up and smacked Dean on the leg when he heard him laugh. "Not funny."

"Sure it is." The indignant look on Seth's face made it all the more hilarious.

"Is not!" Seth hit his leg again. "Jerk face." He struck down another blow. "Stupid stupid jerk face."

Dean's laughter died off as Seth hit him again. "Knock it off dude," he warned.

"Or what?" The alcohol had caused a temporary shed to Seth's more timid nature. The little fucker actually got up and stood in front of Dean, brown eyes blazing and challenging him to do something. "Whaddya gonna do?" He slapped at Dean against, this time hitting his hand and nearly making the beer he was holding fly across the room. "I don't think you'll do shit."

Dean smirked before setting his beer aside. "You don't huh?" He stood up, his smirk getting bigger when he saw Seth immediately flinch. "You so sure about that?"

Seth swallowed hard, his bravado completely gone. Booze fueled bravery wasn't the long lasting kind.

"What are ya gonna do if you need to fight someone man?" Dean didn't even know how to deal with Seth. The pure fucking innocence thing just bafled him. Even Roman hadn't been like this when they had first met.

Seth shrugged sheepishly. "I used to get beat up a lot." The way he said it sounded like he was admitting some deep dark secret that wasn't totally fucking obvious.

"Nooo you don't say?"

Seth nodded. The sarcasm went right over his head.

"Oh for fuck's sakes." Dean grabbed Seth's hands and forcibly balled them into fists. "Forget what I said before. I want you to hit me."

"Wh-what?"

"I want you to hit me."

"Why?"

"Because you need to learn to fight."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I said so god damn it." Dean grabbed Seth's wrists when he tried to lower his arms back down. "Look man, this little sweet innocent thing you got going on is cute and all but it ain't gonna fly in the real world. Let's say you're in a bar alone for whatever fucking reason. You know how many mother fuckers are gonna be on you? And do you know how many of them don't know what the word no means? They ain't gonna let you go because you said please. Or what if you're about to get mugged? Pretty thing like you will get taken advantage of in two seconds flat. You got to fucking learn to fight so either you're good enough to win or good enough to knock them back so you can run away."

"...You think I'm pretty?"

Dean just stared at him. "That's the only thing you just heard?"

"I heard you," Seth said with a pout. "I just...do you think I'm pretty?"

"You're as pretty as you are street dumb."

Seth grinned, only hearing the compliment and not the total insult that was included in there. Of course the insult was actually true so Dean wasn't about to feel bad for throwing it in there. "Seriously just fucking hit me." Dean let of Seth's wrists and stuck his jaw out. "Let's see how hard you can punch."

Seth's expression faltered. "What if I hurt you?"

"Oh god damn it!" Dean threw his hands up in exasperation. "I've been beaten within a half of inch of my life. You think one little punch is gonna hurt me?"

"Who beat you up?"

"Lots of people used to beat me up. Until I learned to fucking fight." Dean tapped his chin impatiently. "Just do it. Come on. Pretend I'm some fuck who's beat you up before."

Seth winced but kept his fists raised and ready to strike. Dean waited, nearly losing his patience completely when Seth finally took a swing. The blow was practically nothing. The little shit stain sixth grader who used to take his lunch money when he was five hit harder than that. But because he had a flare for being a butthead, he dropped to the ground with a dramatic yell and clutched his jaw like it had just been broken.

"Oh god oh god oh god!" Seth's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "I'm sorry!" He practically threw himself on Dean, causing more damage with an errant elbow to the stomach than he did with the punch. "I'm sorry I-" his jaw dropped as Dean burst out laughing. "You're an ASS!"

Dean wheezed he was laughing so hard. Another punch came at him, this one harder than the one before it. It still wouldn't be effective in an actual fight but he supposed it was a start. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I couldn't help it." He looked at Seth's pouting face and groaned. "Don't be mad." He pouted right back at the younger man. "I'm just fucking with you."

"I thought I hurt you." Seth looked down at his hand and winced. "I hurt myself on your stupid face."

"Oh poor baby." Without thinking about what he was doing Dean grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on the bruising knuckles. Their eyes locked and Seth's lips parted in surprise at the gentle touch. He wasn't just pretty. He was fucking gorgeous. He was just so fucking gorgeous and innocent and Dean didn't know whether he should lunge forward and wreck him or wrap him up in a cocoon and cart him off somewhere that nobody could touch him.

A loud clap of thunder broke the mood. Dean let of Seth's hand and jumped up to his feet. A second boom followed close behind and then out went the lights. A string of curses fell from Dean's mouth. He hated storms. He always had. He tried to take a deep breath to calm himself but that didn't help. "Fuuuuck." He tried to force his eyes to adjust to the dark. There were flashlights stored in one of the kitchen drawers last he knew but that didn't mean it hadn't changed while he was away.

"Dean?"

Seth's voice was heard but not really registered. Dean slowly managed to make his way to the kitchen. He kept his hands stretched out in front of him as he tried his best to get to the drawers. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark but that wasn't doing much to calm him. "Fuck where is it?"

"Dean?" Even though he couldn't see him he heard Seth get up and stumble into the kitchen with him.

"Where is it?" Dean managed to find the drawers but with each one he opened he couldn't feel a single flashlight. "Where the fuck is it?" His voice rose in anger. Why the hell did Roman have to move shit around? Everything was fine where it had been before. "Damn it!" Frustration took over and he slammed the drawer shut angrily. He looked up, his eyes adjusted well enough to where he could sort of see Seth.. "Do you know where the flashlight is?"

"No."

"Fuck." Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to focus. There was a flashlight around there somewhere. He just had to focus and think where Roman could have put it. The sounds of the storm picking up outside kept breaking his concentration. He knew it was showing. Even in the pitch black it was showing but he couldn't stop his reactions.  
"Dean?" Seth spoke again, this time a lot more apprehensively. "Dean I don't feel good."

"What? Oh fuck." Dean grabbed the smaller man and tried to guide him to the sink before he started throwing up. He just barely managed. Seth's heaves were violent, so violent that Dean winced sympathetically. His hands managed to find Seth's hair and he pulled it back out of the way, wincing at just how hard the younger man was puking. Something told him that pizza and beer was not going to be a combination Seth did again any time soon.

When Seth was finally done he groaned and collapsed back into Dean. Dean stumbled slightly in surprise but quickly got a tight grasp on the younger man so he didn't hit the floor. "Fucking shit Seth."

"I don't feel good," Seth mumbled. He moved his arms back and wrapped them around Dean. "I hate beer."

"I think it hates you even more." Dean manuevered Seth so he could scoop him up in a wedding carry. "God damn." Very slowly he made his way back to the living room, happy that he managed to do it without tripping over anything. He set Seth down to where he had been sitting before. "Just go to sleep." He sat back down in his own spot only to immediately have Seth flopping over and putting his head on his lap. "Hey!"

"Ugh," Seth groaned. He snuggled his face against the worn denim of Dean's jeans, hugging his thigh like it was a precious stuffed animal of his.

"Come on dude. Get on your own side." Dean tried to make him move back over but Seth just whined and hugged his leg more tightly. "Seriously?" He wasn't actually as annoyed or angry as he sounded. He wanted to be, hence the performance, but he actually wasn't.

Seth had no response. He was completely passed out. Dean glared down at him before slowly sighing and just giving up. He supposed as long as Seth didn't wake up and throw up on him he could deal with this.


	12. Chapter 12

Roman was absolutely exhausted by the time he finally got home. Phil had managed to get his eye closed up and Eve had put a bandage over it. She had given him the riot act though, saying if the glue came undone to go to the hospital and get actual stitches. He had promised to do so though he had been lying through his teeth. He didn't like lying by any means. It wasn't anywhere near his nature. But if it meant she would relax and leave him alone about the entire emergency room thing then he was willing to make an exception. His head was at least hurting a little less now. That was something at least.

He slid the key into the lock but stopped before actually turning it. He stood perfectly still, keeping as quiet as possible to see if he could hear what was going on inside the apartment. All was silent. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. The lights were all on though from the way his digital clock was blinking he knew the power had gone out at some point. He looked around the living room, cringing at the mess. Empty beer cans and a half eaten pizza decorated the floor. "What the fuck?" he muttered under his breath. His eyes went to the couch. What he saw there completely caught him off guard. Dean was sitting up as he slept, his head tilted back and mouth agape as he snored. Somewhere along the way he had pulled Seth completely on his lap, clutching him like he was a teddy bear. Dean's affectionate nature was on the erratic at best when he was awake but when he fell asleep? Forget it. He either pulled you into a death grip or climbed on you and didn't get off. He then would deny doing it once told about it in the morning because...well that was just his way. Seth for his part didn't seem bothered by it. His sleeping face looked perfectly content as he laid curled up in Dean's lap.

Very strange and strongly conflicting feelings filled every fiber of Roman's being. Ridiculous feelings. Feelings of jealousy directed at both men. For Dean because he was holding Seth. For Seth because he had Dean attached to him. Those were spots that belonged to him. Almost immediately he felt ashamed for how he felt. It was ridiculous. Dean and Seth had gotten drunk and fell asleep on each other. That was it. He had nothing to feel jealous about. The blow to his head must have just rattled his brains more than he thought.

He picked up the pizza box and carried it to the kitchen. He stuck it in the fridge for later. Out of the corner of his eye he could see something in the sink and became disgusted upon looking closer and seeing that it was vomit. "God damn it guys." He turned on the water and rinsed the mess away. Once it was gone he went back to the living room. The beer cans on the floor still needed to be picked up but he was too tired to mess with it now. He needed to go to bed but halfway to his room he stopped and looked back at Dean and Seth. The two of them were still completely passed out. They looked so peaceful. And the spot next to them looked so inviting. Much more inviting than the empty bed.

_Fuck it_. Roman walked over to the couch and sat down next to them. Dean mumbled something in his sleep and Roman waited to see if he was about to wake up. All he did was smack his lips together, mumbled something about fucking clowns and then he started snoring once more. Roman grinned and shook his head before laying down. He positioned himself so his head and shoulders were in both Seth and Dean's laps and curled his legs up so his feet wouldn't hang off over the sides. The lights were still on but he didn't care. His head was starting to hurt again but he didn't want to get back up to take anything. He just closed his eyes, slumber claiming him within minutes.

...

The moment Seth woke up he thought he was going to die. His head felt like it was going to explode and he felt so totally sick to his stomach. He had thought the time he rode every spinning wheel ride at the amusement park his parents used to take him after eating a funnel cake was as sick as he could ever feel but he had been wrong. This was worse. He barely untangled himself from Dean's grasp, accidentally whacking Roman in the head in the process. He managed to get to the bathroom in time, practically throwing himself down on his knees and shoving his head into the toilet as he started throwing up. The beer tasted even worse coming back up. With every heave he vowed to never drink again. Not even if he got paid. It was not worth this. It wasn't worth it at all.

"Why the hell did you have to get him drunk?"

"We didn't even drink that much! How was I supposed to know he was such a lightweight?"

"Why did you even have to drink with him? He was in charge-"

"You thought he was going to watch me? Come on Ro!"

_I thought I did okay..._Seth wanted to voice that thought but he couldn't stop throwing up long enough to do it. Between his heaves he heard Roman and Dean coming to the bathroom. Strong hands touched his shoulder gently and he knew they were Roman's. He leaned back towards the touch immediately.

"You alright?" Roman pulled his hair back out of the way.

Seth forced himself to nod. "I'm fine," he managed to say. He took a deep breath, the sickness passing for now. His head was still pounding something fierce though. He tried to ignore it and craned his head back to look at the older man. Roman still had on his clothes from last night. His hair was a ruffled mess and he now sported a big bandage on his eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Epic bar fight," Dean answered before Roman could. He was leaning against the doorway with an entire jug of orange juice in his hands. "People were smashing chairs everywhere. Police got called. Someone came at Roman with a shank."

"WHAT?"

Roman groaned. "Don't listen to him. He's full of shit."

"What did happen though?" Dean had to be telling a kernal of truth somewhere. There was no way that bandage was there for fun.

"I already told you. Someone shanked his eyebrow."

"Dean!"

Dean smirked and smartly took his leave. Roman shook his head and Seth swore he caught a hint of amusement under all the exasperation.

"What did happen?" he asked again. "Seriously."

"There was a fight," Roman admitted. "Nothing crazy like Dean said. Just drunk assholes being rowdy. One got a lucky shot. It happens."

Seth frowned. He didn't like thought of Roman getting hurt. Whether it was a big deal or not didn't matter to him. He didn't want him getting hurt at all. "Does it hurt?"

"Nah." There was a very distinct possibility that answer was a complete lie. Roman wasn't about to admit to it though. Instead he gave Seth his most reassuring smile. "I'm fine." He kissed Seth's forehead before standing up. "I'll get you some clean clothes and you can shower and stuff. Maybe you'll feel better after."

Seth doubted it but didn't argue. There was no energy for argument. He washed his mouth out and took a couple aspirin he found in the medicine cabinet while Roman managed to dig up some clothes that would sort of fit him. He tried to keep the shower short, not wanting to use up a bunch of water. The feeling better part of this plan was not really coming. He let himself linger in the shower longer than intended, trying to drum up a way he could get back at Dean for this. Of course it was actually his own fault. He should have known better than to drink as much as he did. Dean hadn't made him match him beer for beer. Those attempts had been his own stupidity. His own dumb need to impress Dean. He doubted he succeeded. Dean had the cool bad boy thing going on for him. He just was stupid and naïve, which had only really earned him amusement points. Which he would take over flat out hatred. It was a couple steps above that at the very least.

He got out of the shower and got dressed. He was much scrawnier than Roman so the clothes hung off him but he didn't really mind. The fact that they were Roman's were really appealing to him. He pulled the shirt up over his nose and mouth and breathed in. Even with it being clean it still smelled like Roman. He took in another breath before letting it go and leaving the bathroom. He could hear the sound of Roman and Dean bickering and he went to the kitchen to see what was going on. Roman was seemingly attempting to get things out to make breakfast but the sight of Dean sitting cross legged on the table and consuming his breakfast of orange juice and Coco Puffs straight from their containers was making his eye twitch more and more with each passing second.

"Why do you gotta be a damn pig?" Roman grabbed the skillet and waved it like he was about to whack Dean upside the head with it. "Seriously."

"Whaaaat?" Dean just grinned at the larger man. "I'm eating. I'm getting hydrated."

"Other people drink out of that." Roman slammed the skillet down on the stove and pointed to the orange juice. "And other people eat from that!" He pointed to the cereal. "You get a glass and bowl and spread your germs all over your own stuff."

"My germs? I have germs now?" Dean held up his hands and pretended to examine them closely. Neither he or Roman noticed Seth peeking around the doorway. "I don't see any germs." He grabbed the juice and took an extra long drink out of the jug just to be a little shit. "Even if I had germs I think you caught my cooties or whatever fucking years ago."

"I didn't say you had cooties-"

"You implied it."

"I just want you to stop acting like a pig. You weren't raised in a barn."

"Sure I was." Dean shoved a handful of cereal into his mouth. "Oink oink mother fucker." At least that sounded like what he said. It was hard to tell with his mouth so full. Little bits of cereal flew out of his mouth as he spoke and his eyes lit up as Roman made a face at him. "What?"

"You are disgusting. Why did I ever go out with you?"

"Because I was the only one in school prettier than you."

"What? You were not prettier than me."

"I so was."

"You were not."

"Were too."

"Were not."

"Were too. I was prettier than you and had the most sparkling personality and why are you laughing?"

Roman's response was to laugh even harder. Dean looked positively offended and with the cereal box in hand he hopped off the table and started whacking Roman with it. None of the blows looked or sounded remotely hard though. It was an old song and dance. An argument they clearly they had had before. Seth watched them play fight silently, seeing them both fall back into their sense of familiarity. He didn't know if they knew it was happening but he could see it clear as day. It was written on Dean's face. The constant mistrust that Seth had really only known from him was completely wiped away. He was relaxed, happy and the adoration for Roman shown so brightly that it would have been cute if there hadn't been a burning pit of jealousy in Seth's stomach. It was written in Roman's actions, with the way he ducked around another blow and scooped Dean up into a bear hug. He whispered something into Dean's ear, practically beaming as the other man pouted. None of these actions read as intentional. It was playfulness spawned by history. By a love that had never really died. Dean's addiction had damaged them but hadn't completely broken their feelings for each other. From what everyone had said they had been each other's first. Seth knew he couldn't compete with that. He couldn't compete with the history they had.

Roman set Dean back down and grabbed a bowl and a glass. "Use these," he ordered as he set them down on the table. "I got to check on Seth."

Dean just stuck his tongue. Seth quickly moved to the couch, getting himself settled and playing as he had been there the whole time.

"Hey." Roman came in with a glass of water, which he handed off to Seth as he sat down next to him. "Feeling better?"

"Sort of." The answer wasn't a complete lie. His headache had at least eased up slightly. His stomach was in knots again, both from the hangover and the scene he had just witnessed in the kitchen.

"You need me to get you anything?" Roman's concern was genuine. One look in his eyes was all Seth needed to know that was true. Roman cared about him. Even if there was leftover stuff with Dean he cared about him. "Do you want to try to eat?"

Seth shook his head. He didn't even want the water he had been given. He set it aside and closed the distance between them. He kissed Roman hard, his hands cupping the strong handsome face while his tongue begged for entrance into Roman's mouth. Roman gave it gladly, returning the kiss with such fervor Seth moaned. Maybe Seth didn't know a lot but he could tell he was still wanted. Roman was still into him. And he wanted Roman to know he still wanted him too. He wanted him so bad and he wanted to do something about it so desperately but Dean was right there in the next room. There was no doing much of anything except kissing until they finally had to break apart and breathe. His lungs burned and ached with every breath but he liked it. He liked the way his lips tingled even after they broke apart and the turned on, half lidded gaze Roman was looking at him with made him grin.

"What was that for?"

Seth just shrugged. "I wanted to." He laid his head on Roman's chest and closed his eyes. He didn't see Roman looking down at him with the amused expression but he did feel the kiss on the top of his head. He smiled and nuzzled Roman's chest, the steady beating of his heart soon lulling him back to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Saturday brought the day of Roman and Seth's little date. Dean had heard it being talked about and had been keeping to himself because of it. Roman was at least not going to subject him to a babysitter tonight, mostly because Dean had thrown a big enough tantrum to make that shit stop. Being alone maybe wasn't the smartest of choices but he felt like anyone else would be just chomping at the bit to remind him of the fact that Roman was off with Seth and not him. And he wasn't putting up with that. Not anymore. Everything was hard enough as it was without them rubbing stuff in his face. If it was kept up he was going to do something he knew he would regret.

Seth was already in the apartment and since Dean didn't want to see him and Roman doing anything mushy he was now hiding out in the spare bedroom. He and Roman just used it for storage when they moved in and nothing had changed when he was gone. Out of boredom he had started going through the stuff, eventually stumbling on some old photo albums. He skimmed through them absently, not really taking much interest in the ones of Roman's family. He lingered a bit on the old ones of him and Roman. A lot of them were from parties and stuff with friends, group shots that Dean always tried to blend in with the background because he never knew what to do with his hands or what face to make unless he was drunk. Roman always managed to get some of him when he wasn't expecting it, including when he was sleeping. "Asshole," he muttered under his breath. He scooted across the floor until he was leaning back against the wall and resumed his looking. Near the end of the second photo album he stumbled across a picture that stopped him in his tracks. It was an old picture of his mother holding him. He couldn't have been more than two years old at the time. Her drug use had definitely started at this point but it hadn't completely destroyed her looks at that point. She was sitting on a couch with him, though whether that was at an old apartment they lived at or somewhere else he didn't know. He hadn't even known this picture existed until just now.

His stomach twisted into a knot. None of his memories of his mother included affection like this. She hadn't been overly mean and abusive to him. Not until later when he started fighting with her boyfriends and they slapped her around for it too. Neglectful though, was the best way to describe her parenting style. Her money and energy went primarily to feeding her drug habit. Things like paying the rent, buying groceries, clothing him and getting him things he needed for school were on the back burner. Forget getting him things like toys or the puppy he begged her for when he was five; the only thing she thought about were the drugs. He had hated her for it. He still did.

"Dean?" Dean looked up to see that Seth had let himself into the room.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

Seth looked taken aback by his tone but he tried not to let it bother him. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Dean tried to flip the book shut but Seth had already been coming over as he asked and he prevented him from shutting the book completely. "Hey!"

"I just wanna look." Seth plopped down next to him and pulled the book out of his hand. His black and blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he had put on a nice plain t-shirt to go with his shorts. The heat wave was still going strong it was too hot to wear any kind of pants and not want to die.

"I don't care if you want to look."

"Why are you being so cranky?" Brown eyes went back and forth between Dean and the photo. "Who's that?" Seth tapped his finger against the picture.

"Nobody."

"If it's nobody then why is it bothering you?"

"Because you're being a nosy fuck."

Seth pouted at the words. "Why are you being so mean?"

"Because."

"Because why?" Seth tapped the picture again. "I'll get Roman to tell me who this is if you don't."

Dean groaned. He was going to strangle this kid and not feel the least bit bad about it. "It's my mom alright?"

"Ohhhh." Seth's eyes widened. "Ooohhh man." He shifted around uncomfortably. "Roman um...Roman told me that she was um-"

"She's dead. We're not talking about your parents here. You don't got to be a pussy about the word." That came out a lot meaner than Dean had even intended for it to be. He didn't apologize though. He just took the photo album back and closed it.

"Do you miss her?"

"No."

"But I thought Roman said-"

"Roman needs to not say shit." Dean put the album away and stood up. He was well aware of how he reacted when Roman had told him the news. It wasn't something he dwelled on. The way he saw it, he reacted that way because he had been all fucked up. How could he miss his mother or be sad she was gone if she had never been there for him to begin with? Answer was he couldn't. He didn't. Fuck that. "Aren't you two supposed to be leaving?" He didn't know why he even asked that. He didn't want them to go. He wanted Roman to stay and Seth...well he wasn't going to admit it but he was torn between wanting him to go away and being okay with him staying. But he wouldn't stay. Neither one of them would. They would go off and leave him and he didn't even want to think about what the two of them would do off on their own. He knew what happened when he and Roman used to go to the movies. There was very little watching going on during those dates. He didn't see how this one would be any different. It made his stomach churn. He hated being so jealous. It drove him crazy, especially since he couldn't really do anything about it. He couldn't do anything to Seth to scare him away with Roman. Roman would not only hate him but Seth was too innocent for him to really want to hurt. Even now, even knowing just what could happen between him and Roman, he couldn't bring himself to hate Seth. He wanted to but he was just so fucking beautiful and innocent. The son of a bitch. Dean wanted to want to hit him but all he really wanted to do was grab him by the hair and kiss him.

_Kiss him? What the fuck? _

"Dean?" Seth frowned and tried to reach out for Dean's hand. "Are you okay?"

Dean jerked away from his grasp. He didn't want Seth to touch him. If Seth touched him he didn't know what he would do. Maybe he would actually hit him. Or maybe he would actually kiss him. Kiss him so hard that he'd take those lips right off his face. _Jesus fuck what am I even thinking?_

"Dean?" Seth tried to grab Dean again only to get his hand slapped away.

"Leave me alone." Dean didn't let himself see the confused and hurt look on Seth's face. He just turned on his heels and stormed out of the room. He heard Roman say something to him from the living room but he ignored him as well. He slipped into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him, refusing to come out until long after they left.

...

"What exactly happened?"

Seth sighed. He was in the car with Roman, the older man driving them to the movie theater. Dean had still been in the bathroom when they left and had only yelled that he was fine and to leave him alone when Roman tried to talk to him. Seth had tried to get him to come out as well but just got told to fuck off. He didn't get it. He didn't know what he had done that was so wrong. "I don't know." He shifted around uncomfortably. "I found him looking at some old pictures. There was one of his mom-"

"Oh god."

"What?"

"The one when he was a baby?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck." Roman slapped the wheel of the car. "I forgot I stuck that in there." He slapped the wheel again. "I found it at his mom's place after her funeral."

"What's so bad about a picture though?" Seth wasn't getting it. "He's had to have seen it-"

"No."

"No?"

Roman shook his head. "It was the only picture of them in the whole place. It's the only time I ever saw her be remotely affectionate to him." He nearly missed the stop sign in front of them and had to slam on the brakes. "Her drug use was even worse than his. I mean what I went through with him was fucked up don't get me wrong. But he got robbed of his entire childhood because of her use."

"His dad didn't help?"

"He doesn't know his dad. Bastard ran out on them when his mom was five months pregnant. His grandparents were never a factor they cut his mom out of his life years before he was born. All he had was her and the string of abusive assholes she used to date."

Seth winced. "I um, I asked him if he missed her. I think that's what upset him."

Roman looked like he wanted to say that wasn't the case but he couldn't muster up the lie. "He got upset when I told him she was dead-."

"I know which is why I thought that was what was wrong. I thought he was missing her and now he hates me again."

"He doesn't hate you."

Seth snorted. He had a hard time believing that one.

"He just don't handle the subject well." Roman took one hand off the wheel so he could reach over and grab Seth's hand. "It's complicated for him. He hates her for what she put him through but she's still his mom. He still loved her no matter what he said. He would have gotten pissy with me if I had been in your place instead." He gave Seth's hand an extra firm squeeze. "He's not going to hate you. He'l probably just knock back a few beers while we're gone and as long as we don't bring it up again he'll be back to normal by the morning."

Seth wanted to believe that. He really did. He really did. But it just felt like Roman was saying this to make him feel better. There was still more than a little worry in his eyes. Seth tried to pretend he didn't see it. This was their date he didn't need to be worrying about Dean. Dean surely wouldn't be giving a shit about him if their roles were reversed. Yet even as he switched the topic and flipped through the radio stations the concern still lingered. He didn't want Dean to hate him. He really didn't. He didn't like the thought of upsetting Dean and he certainly didn't like how he had just got totally shut out by him after. It shouldn't have bothered him but it was. What if he goes off and does something stupid now? _It'll be all my fault... _

That thought lingered in his head for a very long moment before he forced himself to shake it off. He was being stupid. Dean would be fine. Roman had to be right. It would be fine. It would all be fine.

...

The ashes of the cigarette fell down on to Dean's leg but he hardly felt the pain. He just kept the cigarette dangling right in his mouth and just stared straight ahead. He was sitting outside, ass being burned by the blazing hot ground while his back was being well cooked by the apartment building's wall. The pains he went through so he didn't make the apartment smell like cigarette smoke. Not that Roman ever appreciated his efforts. He just nagged and said Dean shouldn't smoke at all. Said they would kill him and blah blah blah. He never seemed to realize that saying all that shit was never going to make him quit. It should have but he didn't. Smoking at least hadn't ruined his life up at this point. It was one habit he could actually keep.

When he was done with the first cigarette he started right up with the second. He didn't let himself think about Seth or Roman or his mother or anything really. He just watched life go on around him. He watched Cameron come home with the little rat she called a dog, cell phone pressed firmly to her ear as she screamed at her boyfriend Vincent. He could see Naomi and Jimmy making out in their kitchen through the window. Natalya was trying to lure a stray cat out of a tree while Tyson complained about not needing another cat right behind her. A bunch of kids had the apartment's hose and were trying to hook it up to a sprinkler so they could play in it. Cody, Randy, Dolph and AJ were all leaving together in Randy's car, probably going on some double date bullshit.

"Anyone tell you staring is actually really fucking creepy?"

Dean did nothing to hide the groan as he looked up. "Anyone ever tell you sneaking up on people makes you a giant bag of dicks?"

Cooper smirked and plopped down next to him. "It's been mentioned a few times." He had a cigarette of his own dangling between his thin, cracked lips. He looked absolutely awful. His face had become completely gaunt since the last time he had seen him, making his dull hazel eyes look huge just because there was no weight surrounding them. His skin was ungodly pale and Dean hoped to god that he hadn't looked like that when he had been all fucked up. He didn't remember any of the junkies he hung with looking this bad though in fairness he had been so high he had barely known his own name. If they had looked like that or if hadn't been so fucked up he would have cleaned up his act long before he did.

"You've been the talk of the town." Cooper nudged Dean's ribs with his elbow. "Everyone's favorite crack baby is now riding the straight and narrow."

Dean glared at him. "I'm not a fucking crack baby shut the fuck up."

"Sorry sorry." No he wasn't. Cooper was never sorry for shit. "How's the whole sobriety thing for you?"

"It's going none of your damn business. How's that one?"

"Jesus what the fuck's with the hostility man?"

Dean ignored the question. Everyone really didn't like Cooper except Dolph because of reasons nobody could understand. He was just a miserable son of a bitch. He came from money, came from a family that from as far as anyone knew loved him (his father and stepmother had tried several times to bring him home and get him clean) but he chose the hellish existence and tried to play the victim, saying he had been driven to this point. That was what bugged Dean the most. He could deal with the guy being just an asshole. It was the fucking victim complex that drove him absolutely up the wall.

"Wanna go get a drink?"

Dean blinked in surprise. That offer was the last thing he expected to hear. "What?"

Cooper rolled his eyes. "You heard me." He stood up and held his hand out for Dean to take.

Dean just eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because I don't feel like sitting alone and drinking like some loser." He sighed when Dean still didn't move. "What, are you afraid I'm gonna tie you up and make you get high or something? I hate to break it to you princess but I don't share my shit."

"Call me princess again and I'll knock the shit out of you." Dean knocked his hand away and got up on his own. A drink did sound good, despite the company he would be keeping. He knew Roman wouldn't want him going off with Cooper which did make him hesitant. He wanted to get back in his good graces and going off with Cooper, even if he didn't do anything drug wise, wasn't exactly a trust builder. Yet Roman was off with Seth on a date right now. Going off with Seth, moving on and leaving him behind. Why should he have to sit at home and wallow in the home that had turned into his prison? "I don't want to go anywhere anyone will know us."

"Ashamed of me Ambrose?" Cooper smirked and draped an arm around Dean's shoulder. "Or just afraid someone's gonna tattle to Roman?"

"Get off me." Dean wrenched himself out of Cooper's grip and glared at him. "You want my company you're going to shut the fuck up and pay for my drinks." Reasonable demands in his mind. It was about the only way he knew he could put up with Cooper for any lengthy period of time. Or anyone but a select few really but that was another issue.

"Whatever. I'll drive."

"You own a car?"

Cooper smirked. "Sort of."

"Define sort of." Dean already knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Possession wise I own it. Legally there could be some disagreeing with that."

Dean groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. That was Cooper speak for he stole it. "If the cops pull us over I will murder the fucking shit out of you."

Cooper grinned. "Sounds fair to me."


	14. Chapter 14

The movie theater was absolutely packed. Seth hadn't been to the movies in quite awhile so the crowd had caught him by surprise. He hugged Roman's arm as they got their tickets and went to the snack counter to get popcorn and drinks. The girl at that register gave Seth quite the envious look the entire time they were at the counter. Seth elected to ignore her and focused on Roman's fingers lacing with his as they went to go find seats. The place was packed but they managed to find a couple seats way in the back. The place had recently been remodeled according to Roman, which gave way to new extremely comfortable reclining chairs for everyone to sit in as they watched their movie. Of course, finding the button to make it recline back was an ordeal in itself and Seth was reduced to cursing and nearly knocking his own drink over while Roman tried not to laugh at him. "It's not funny you know," he finally said with a pout.

"I'm sorry." Roman at least tried to actually sound apologetic. "Here let me help you." He reached over and found the button on the thing immediately.

"Oh come on!" Seth pouted and shifted around as Roman made the chair go back. "That's not even fair."

Roman just chuckled and let go of the button. "That good?"

Seth nodded. "Thanks." He turned his attention to the popcorn, which he found himself almost polishing off completely even before the movie started. He didn't mean to but with the decision to put nearly a half hours of previews before the movie it was hard to avoid it. Every new preview left not only him and Roman but everyone else muttering under their breath. Everyone quieted down once the movie started but Seth found himself unable to concentrate. He tried to. The movie seemed to be good and he really tried to get into it. But he couldn't. His attention was going over to Roman. This was becoming more and more of a thing. He found himself wishing they were back at his apartment so he could snuggle up against him. The arm over his shoulders was nice but the arms of their chairs forced a short distance between them that he didn't like. He felt like he was being stupid but he couldn't help it. He didn't just want the contact with Roman. He felt like he needed it.

He put his hand over Roman's and began to lightly play with his fingers. He had spaced off at work the other day and had imagined Roman's hands all over him. They hadn't gone past the making out stage and Roman, the gentleman that he was, had kept his hands in innocent places. Seth didn't think he could take having them in just innocent places for much longer. For the first time in his life desire was actively coursing through his veins. He had done stuff with Jimmy sure and he had thought he wanted it. Thinking back now though, he had never chosen to instigate any of the stuff they did. Jimmy had been the one to want him and had been leading them to sex when the loss of his parents shut down their sex life before it really began. With Roman he wanted it to be different. He not only wanted Roman to touch him but he wanted to touch back as well. Roman's well muscled body was amazing to him. He literally looked like he was chiseled out of stone. Seth wanted to touch him and bite him and kiss him all over. A part of him wanted to do it right now. To just climb over on to Roman's seat and let himself go wild. To let his mouth and hands wander all over.

Seth's eyes went down to Roman's crotch for the briefest of moments. His face flushed immediately and he quickly looked back to the screen. No, he was not about to sit through a movie with a raging hard on. He could not let his mind go remotely further than it already had. Wanting to shed some self control and inhibitions and whatever was one thing but they were in public. As dark as the theater was he couldn't do any of the stuff he was imagining here. Someone would see them or hear them and then he would probably die of embarrassment on the spot.

He let out a sigh and tried once more to concentrate on the movie. His restlessness was starting to be noticed though. Roman kept looking over at him, brows furrowed in concern and confusion. Seth would smile and squeeze his hand but he wasn't really fooling anyone. "You okay?" Roman finally whispered. Seth nodded. "You sure?" Seth made himself nod again. Despite the fact that the arm of the chair would now be digging into his ribs he leaned over and rested his head against Roman. It wasn't completely what he wanted but it would do until he could get it.

...

The bar Cooper drove them to was as seedy of a bar as one could possibly get to. It was past the bar Roman worked at, past street corner his mom worked at, past the strip clubs and past the apartment he had grown up in. Dean hated to admit it but he probably should have just bit the bullet and gone somewhere closer to home. Being seen and tattled on to Roman would have been bad but he didn't really feel safe where they were now. This was the kind of place one needed a weapon of some sort to be at. Cooper didn't seem at all bothered. There was a way that he kept reaching down and putting his hand over his ankle led Dean to believe he had something strapped on him. Dolph claimed Cooper carried a hunting knife but Dean had never seen it for himself. He didn't think a knife would do much good here anyway. Their fellow ball patrons seemed like the type to carry guns.

"Bleh." Dean downed another shot of whiskey. The booze was so cheap here. He loved his cheap booze but this was on an entirely new level.

"Piper keeps all the good stuff for the assholes," Cooper commented after downing his own shot. He grabbed the bottle they were sharing and poured them another one. "The pimps and the dealers and all them."

"Dealers huh? Is that why you're subjecting me to battery acid?" Despite his complaint about the taste Dean downed his shot immediately. "Fucking going to get high and ditch me here?"

"As fun as that sounds I've got something else to take care of." Cooper looked across the bar, hazel eyes clearer than they probably had been in a long time.

"Then why am I here?"

"Because I felt like having some company." Cooper didn't see who or what he was looking for in the bar and turned his attention back to Dean. "And you just looked so miserable sitting outside by yourself."

Dean snorted. "Why do you even care?"

"Well I have a reputation to maintain as the most miserable person in that apartment building so I can't exactly have you ruining it." Cooper grinned until he saw Dean didn't find it that funny. "Oh come on," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, you want me to be real here? I know a thing or two about being the odd one out when it comes to the whole love thing. And it sucks. You get stuck alone while some pretty boy sl-"

"Finish that sentence and I will put my fist through your face." The snarl that flew out of his mouth caught Dean by surprise but it didn't make him mean it any less. "Don't even fucking talk about him." He poured himself another shot and downed it, slamming the glass right on to the table. "Don't talk about Roman either. Just keep your mouth shut alright?"

Dean's defensiveness over Seth was what took Cooper by surprise. He studied Dean for a long time, a knowing smirk slowly sliding on to his face. Dean wanted to just rip it off of him. "The kid is stealing your man and you want to punch me over him. Interesting."

"Shut up." Dean didn't want to hear it. "Just shut the fuck up." His own defensiveness was confusing him. Why should he care what anyone said about Seth? He was taking Roman away from him. He should be dropkicking his face in but god damn it he couldn't actually picture himself doing it. Seth was just...fuck it. He couldn't keep thinking about all this. It was too confusing.

Cooper opened his mouth to say more but his eyes fell on something behind Dean and he went silent. Dean frowned and turned himself around. Cooper's gaze were on three men who just entered the bar. "Who are they?" The fact that two of them were clearly muscle head goons left Dean with a very uneasy feeling in his stomach. The third man, a pale red head wasn't totally roided up like the first two but he was still big and Dean could clearly see the gun on him which officially placed him as the least welcome contribution to this party.

"Batista." Cooper pointed to the first big goon. "Ryback." His finger moved to the second big goon. "And Sheamus." That was the man with the gun. "They work for Hunter."

"Who the fuck is Hunter?"

"The closest thing this town has to a drug lord."

"He's expanded his territory while you were gone."

"Shiiiit." That wasn't really the type of thing Dean liked to hear. And what was even worse was the trio's eyes locked on to their table and they all stopped. They weren't so much looking at him as they were Cooper but it was still bad news for the both of them. With men like this, they were more than happy to take some other casualties besides their intended. "What the fuck did you do?" He turned back to glare at Cooper. "What the FUCK did you do?"

Cooper didn't answer him. He just stared at the approaching men with an amusement that was not at all appropriate for the situation.

"Lawson!" Batista was the one to speak. He, Ryback and Sheamus surrounded the table. Ryback and Batista went to either side of Cooper while Sheamus stood by Dean.

"Gentlemen." Cooper elected to ignore Ryback's existence and look straight at Batista. "I was wondering when you'd catch up to me."

"Hunter wants his money." Batista put one hand on the table and the other on Cooper's shoulder. "He wanted it two weeks ago actually." He leaned forward and got right in Cooper's face. "His patience is wearing thin."

"I already told him he ain't getting shit from me." Cooper's tongue darted across his chapped bottom lip. "I ain't paying for anything when his dealers keep trying to rip me off. That's not how that shit is going to work."

"It'll work however we say it's going to work," Ryback growled. "You got that you little faggot?"

"You say these things like they're supposed to scare me."

"What if we killed your little boyfriend here?" Batista said, nodding over towards Dean. "Would that scare ya?"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Dean shook his head. Unlike Cooper he was nowhere near as calm as he tried to make himself sound. He had seen more than his share of this kind of shit. These guys didn't fuck around. They would gladly put him and Cooper in the ground right here in front of everyone and not even think twice about it. And everyone else in the bar would look but nobody would say anything to the police later on. Nobody talked to the police in this part of town. Snitching meant death and everyone valued their own miserable existence too much to do the right thing for anyone else. "I'm not his fucking boyfriend so just leave me the hell out of this."

"You're in this if we say you're in this fella." Sheamus spoke, not only revealing his Irish accent but fully revealing the gun that Dean had already seen beforehand. He pressed the barrel of the weapon against Dean's forehead. The click of the safety being released made Dean's heart skip several beats inside his chest. "Understand?"

Dean didn't answer him. He kept his mouth tightly shut and just stared at him. Mouthing off like Cooper was completely stupid but showing fear wasn't an option either. His mind was racing at a million miles an hour. He had to get a grip. He had to think. There had to be a way to get him and Cooper out of this. He just had to try to think."

"If you want me dead so bad then why don't you point that gun over here?" Cooper tried to shake Batista's hand off him and glared at Sheamus. "Killing him ain't gonna get shit out of me."

"That's what everyone says." Sheamus pressed the gun more tightly against Dean and smirked at Cooper. "I'm sure you're smart enough to know why we never believe it."

"Just fucking leave him alone and deal with me asshole."

"Or what?" Ryback grinned and revealed an entire set of crooked teeth. "What are you possibly going to do?"

Dean wondered the same thing but nobody had long to find out. A not totally drugged up out of his mind Cooper was a frighteningly fast Cooper. The knife Dolph claimed Cooper had came out to play, the blade being driven through Batista's hand and pinning it to the table. The scream that left the large man's mouth drew the attention of the entire bar. Ryback threw himself at Cooper, tackling him to the ground. Sheamus just looked shocked and Dean, knowing he had only one shot, knocked the gun out of his hand and kicked him between the legs. The gun hit the floor and slid halfway across the room. Dean turned away from Sheamus and grabbed the bottle of whiskey. The original intention was to hit him with it but with Batista trying to to yank the knife out of his hand, Dean quickly changed course and smashed it over his head instead. Batista slumped down in unconsciousness but Dean didn't get to feel a sense of victory for long. Sheamus's large fist smashed into his face and he went crashing down to the ground.

In this part of town, a fight breaking out in the bar didn't mean security came and broke it up. It was just an excuse for everyone else to start fighting. The entire place had erupted into chaos and someone shoved a woman right in Sheamus's way as he tried to get on Dean. Sheamus shoved her right back away, sending her in between two other people fighting and getting her punched in the face. Dean got back up to his feet and launched himself forward. Fists started flying and now it was Sheamus's turn to crash down on to the floor. Dean kept swinging, his punches not doing quite as much damage as he would have liked. His strength still hadn't come back to him completely. Sheamus was easily able to flip him over and when his fist hit Dean's face this time he felt his nose shatter on impact. Blood went everywhere. It choked him and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe and he couldn't push Sheamus off him. He tried to just put his hands up to block the blows raining down on him.

"HEY!"

Sheamus looked up got a bar stool right to the head for his troubles. Cooper was up and moving, his face in the same bloody state Dean's was. Ryback was down though and now Sheamus was too. "Come on!" Cooper yanked Dean up to his feet. "We gotta go."

There was not about to be an argument on Dean's end. Cooper led the way, dragging Dean to the bar's back entrance that led to the alley. Dean had no idea why they just didn't run to the car but there was no time to ask. They were just running. There was barely any light to guide them and Dean kept nearly doubling over because he was still choking on his own blood. Cooper didn't let him stop. He literally dragged him until they came to a fence, which Dean scaled and nearly twisted his ankle when he dropped down on the other side. "Fucking shit!" He gritted his teeth and looked at Cooper, who hadn't climbed over yet. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"You need to go."

"What?"

"You need to go." Cooper cast a glance back. "They won't be down for long. You need to get out of here before they catch up."

"And what about you?"

"I got this."

"You got this? Are you fucking insane? They'll fucking kill you you idiot." Dean spat out a mouthful of blood. "You-Cooper!" Cooper was already heading off the way they had came. Dean just stood there for a moment, not even sure of what to do. He wasn't one to really run from a fight but sticking around was not a real option. Even if he was a help to Cooper he would be involving himself in stuff that he already had more to do with than he felt comfortable with. Sticking your nose in stuff like this meant either getting hurt or worse getting killed. "Fuck!" He swallowed his pride and took off. He couldn't run now because of his ankle but he was at least moving. His hand reached into his pocket to find his phone but it wasn't there. He had forgotten it at the apartment. "Fuck!" He cast a nervous glance around and tried to move faster. _You really know how to be an idiot don't you Ambrose?_ _Fucking god damn it._


	15. Chapter 15

During the movie Seth got a text from Dolph saying he, AJ and Cody would be gone for the night and not to worry. Seth didn't read the message after the movie was over and was more than thrilled when he did. He knew there was very little chance Cooper would be home and he seized the opportunity, inviting Roman to come up to his apartment. Roman had thankfully accepted. The moment they got inside Seth was on Roman, pulling his head down for a kiss. Roman's eyes widened in surprise but he didn't push Seth away. He placed his hands on his back, pulling him closer as he kicked the door shut behind them. Seth's arms went around Roman's neck, lips parting with a moan as Roman's tongue asked for entrance into his mouth. After sitting through a nearly two hour movie this felt amazing. He jumped up and wrapped his legs around Roman's waist. Roman's hands moved down from his back to his ass, squeezing gently and making Seth moan again. They were moving towards the couch though he didn't realize it until Roman sat down and he was straddling the older man's lap. Their lips had yet to part for more than a split second. Just enough time to take little gasps of air. Roman's hands slid back up, slipping under Seth's shirt. Seth felt himself shiver at the touch. It felt like every little bit of him was coming to life. He rolled his hips instinctively, grinding his groin against Roman's.

"Fuck," Roman gasped under his breath. He settled his hands on Seth's waist, guiding his movements while arching his own hips up. He lips traveled across Seth's jaw before settling on his neck.

Seth let out a low whine. He felt Roman's mouth work his throat ever so gently. Little kisses followed by gentle bites. Not enough to hurt but enough to leave their mark. To show everyone who had been there. His hips began to move faster, his cock growing harder and harder inside his jeans. He could feel that Roman was hard too and he swallowed hard. He didn't know where he wanted to start. He didn't know if he wanted to touch Roman or have Roman touch him. He had no idea where he wanted them to stop or if he wanted to have a stopping point at all.

"Where's your room?" Roman stopped and moved his head back so he could look at Seth.

"We're uh, we're in it," Seth said with a sheepish grin.

Roman's eyebrows went up. "They really make you sleep in the living room?"

"Cody's room is too small to share. we'd kill each other." Seth went for another kiss the same moment Roman tried to take off his shirt, leading him to get a mouthful of the cotton material that tasted like the body spray AJ saw fit to douse him with before he had walked out of the door.

"Sorry." Roman was caught between cringing and laughing.

Seth shook his head and just lifted his arms up, letting Roman get his shirt off this time. Goosebumps immediately covered his entire torso. It wasn't the slightest bit cold in the room yet he couldn't stop shivering. He gasped as Roman's thumbs brushed over his nipples. "Ro..."

"You trust me?" Roman's roaming hands and lips came to a screeching halt.

"Yeah." Seth looked right into Roman's eyes and nodded.

That was all the other man needed to hear. He moved Seth off his lap, sitting him on the spot next to them on the couch. Seth frowned and started to object but Roman shook his head. "Trust me. I just wanna make you feel good." Roman moved off the couch and nudged Seth's legs so he could kneel between them. He leaned forward and kissed Seth once more, his hands now undoing Seth's jeans. Seth felt his breath catch in his throat but he wasn't about to put a stop to this. He lifted his hips so Roman could slide his jeans and boxers off. They were thrown over by his shirt and Roman stopped to slowly cast his eyes up and down Seth's now totally exposed body. Seth literally felt himself turn red. He felt so damn insecure in himself. He was all arms and legs with no muscles to really speak of. Yet Roman didn't seem to mind in the very least. He just leaned forward and kissed him again, his hands grabbing Seth by the wrists so he couldn't try to cover himself up. Seth instinctively tried to pull his hands free but Roman just shook his head.

"Stop that." He broke the kiss to press their foreheads together. "You're gorgeous."

Seth turned red all over again. Roman resumed his kissing, going from Seth's lips down his neck and then to his chest. From his chest he went down his stomach before going to his inner thighs. Seth watched his every move with wide eyes, his breaths shallow and quick. He nearly jumped out of his own skin as Roman's hand wrapped around the base of his aching cock. Roman gave it a couple of soft strokes before swiping his tongue slowly across the slit, lapping up the precum that had already leaked out.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck." Seth was already a mess. He threaded his fingers through Roman's hair, twisting it in his grip while he bit down on his lower lip. He tasted his own blood on his tongue but he didn't care. Roman was taking more and more of his cock in his mouth, sucking gently while his tongue ran over the vein that ran along the underside of it. His hands held Seth's hips down, stopping him from being able to thrust into his mouth. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck." That was the only word Seth could even begin to say. He tried other ones, tried even just saying Roman but it all got lost in incoherent moans.

Roman bobbed his head faster, a hand moving off Seth's waist so he could gently cup and squeeze Seth's balls. Seth didn't want him to ever stop. He tried to keep himself from coming, tried to hold on so Roman wouldn't stop. It was a fight he lost in record time. He tried to at least give some sort of warning though he wasn't sure if the words that came flying out of him were English or just plain gibberish. His eyes closed and he rode out the wave of his orgasm, a new string of fucks leaving his mouth as Roman swallowed everything down. His heart pounded wildly inside his chest. His lungs ached for breath. A true breath and not the shallow shots of sticky air that was making him feel dizzy. He couldn't focus on that though. Not with Roman kissing his way back up his body. He opened his eyes just as Roman reached his lips once more. Now he was the one pushing his tongue into Roman's mouth, tasting himself along with the deliciousness that was just Roman.

Seth's hands tugged at Roman's shirt and with Roman's assistance he got it off. He tossed it aside and used all his strength to make Roman switch places with him. His ability to speak was still fucked so he had to just take action. His fingers fumbled with Roman's jeans. He managed to get the belt he was wearing off but the stupid button wouldn't go. "Fuck fuck god damn it..."

"Here." Roman tried to help but Seth swatted his hand away.

"I got it I got it." Except he didn't have it. His attempt to be sexy and take charge was falling flat on its face because he couldn't unbutton a simple pair of pants. If there was ever a moment he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole he was about to reach it. Roman's hands reached down once more and with his help it wasn't long before he was completely naked as well. Seth felt himself getting hard all over again. Roman's body was ridiculously perfect. Muscles were big without crossing the line into being overly large and veiny and gross. Bronze skin was smooth and glistening with a thin layer of sweat. The air conditioner was on but neither of them could feel it. It felt like they had fallen into their own overheated bubble where nothing existed besides the two of them and the couch. Seth wanted to say something. He felt like he needed to say something but the words just wouldn't come. There was too much he wanted to say and he didn't have a coherent enough mind to spit anything out.

Roman's right hand came up and cupped the side of Seth's face gently. His large thumb brushed over Seth's bottom lip. He knew. He only had needed to look at Seth and he knew. Relief washed over Seth in waves. He had felt so dumb with not being able to speak but it was okay if Roman got the point despite of his sudden inability to string together simple words then it was fine. His exploration down Roman's body was filled with less kissing and more licking and biting. He felt not only Roman's eyes on him but he felt his body tensing underneath him. Roman's cock was long and thick and begging for attention. Seth wrapped his mouth around the head, sucking gently while his hand pumped the rest of the shaft. He wanted to just take the whole thing into his mouth at once but there was no way he could do that without choking. He had to go slower, hollowing his cheeks and relaxing his throat so he could take more and more of the throbbing shaft into his mouth. He didn't have an abundance amount of experience with this, but between instinct and stealing a few techniques from Roman himself, he soon found Roman's hands in his hair and his hips fighting to not thrust upwards and choke him. Roman was saying something but it went in one of Seth's ears and out the other. His attention was completely zeroed in on Roman's dick. He sucked on it desperately, his tongue swirling around the head as he bobbed upwards. His hand moved with his head, gently squeezing and rubbing the shaft instead of holding down Roman's hips. Part of him wanted Roman to choke him though it didn't happen. Roman just guided his head up and down, moaning his name as his release spilled out of him. Seth barely got it swallowed before he was being pulled back on to the couch. Roman's lips captured his once more, the kiss lazy and open mouthed as they shifted around on the couch. Roman ended up on his back with Seth laying on his chest, his arms locked around the younger man's body. Neither one of them said much of anything. They didn't have to. They just kept kissing until Seth's head fell on to Roman's shoulder and he just laid there, not ever wanting to leave that spot for anything.

...

Every step Dean took seemed to finally shake off the pain in his ankle. Or he had simply just gotten so used to it his mind had become numb to the pain's existence. He tried to make himself run but couldn't. His busted nose made him feel like he couldn't breathe. The street he was walking down was empty but for how long would it be? He still wasn't out of the woods yet. The bar Cooper had taken them to was quite deep in the nasty end of town and going on foot while injured was a much longer ordeal than getting there by car. He kept looking around, trying to mask his fear while making sure the coast was clear. At any moment the goons from the bar could catch up to him. He had no idea what the hell Cooper had been thinking going after them alone. Sure it was appropriate since it was his own damn fault and his own damn mess but what had he been trying to accomplish? What could he do to them even? Though as much as Dean didn't want to admit it, Cooper had a better hand in the situation at the bar than he did. His nose was fucked up and he was tasting his own blood while Cooper was stabbing people's hands and smashing them across the head with bar stools. Rich boy had a volatile side to him. If Dean wasn't so pissed at him for dragging him into the situation to begin with he would have been impressed.

He passed a few more bars but ignored the people who stared at him as he passed. The whores on the corner stared at him too, a couple of them calling out to him as he passed. He shot them a glare but kept going. Every step was getting him closer to home. That was what he focused on. But what would even be waiting for him at home? Would Roman be there waiting? Would he be worried? Or would he still be out with Seth? Dean wasn't sure which would be better. Having Roman home could mean a fight but having Roman not be there sounded awful. It was a lonely thing to clean up one's wounds. Dean had done it more times than he could ever count. He always had hated it. Even if they fought the whole time through it Roman would still take care of him. Despite everything he had done to him Roman had still taken him back home. Roman was still his port in the fucked up storm that he got to call his life.

The way home meant passing the apartments he had grown up in. Despite his brain screaming at him to just keep going his feet stopped anyway and his eyes locked on to the old, broken down building. The place was the definition of the shit hole. It was falling apart on the outside and he couldn't imagine how it looked on the inside. He could see a small figure sitting out on the fire escape. Looked like a little boy from where he stood. Kid was probably hiding out from whatever was going on inside. Homes in this area were filled with drugs and violence and any other kind of nasty thing that could possibly happen. And for most there was no way out of it. He had managed somewhat with finding Roman, though even he had eventually still fallen into the trap of drugs. Who knew what would even happen to that kid on the fire escape. Maybe he could get lucky like he did and find someone that would choose to give a shit. Or maybe he would turn into one of the monsters. An abuser, an addict, a dealer or maybe he wouldn't even get to grow up at all. Random gunfire could take him down one day on the way home from school. Maybe the violence in his own home would kill him. There had been more than one deadly domestic dispute in that building in his day. He couldn't see how that would have changed much.

He shook his head and started walking once again. There was no point of dwelling over any of this. He just needed to go. He wiped the blood away from his nose and mouth with the back of his hand. His ankle was starting to throb again but he swallowed down the pain. He couldn't let it matter. Every step was another one closer to home. That was what he needed to focus on. That was the only thing that mattered. Not anything else. Not anything fucking else.

...

Roman ended up on the couch with Seth for quite awhile with Seth. All snuggled up they were with little bits of conversation flowing in between kisses. Part of him wanted to just stay like that forever but he knew that wasn't an actual option. He had to be the one to get up and going, kissing Seth reassuringly and telling him that they would hang out tomorrow. Now he was entering his own apartment, expecting to find a miffed Dean. There was no Dean at all though. He went around and around in the apartment several times, panic surging to new heights every time Dean didn't magically appear in a room he had already checked. This wasn't good. Dean's phone was on the kitchen table. All his stuff was still there. He was just gone. He was just fucking gone and Roman couldn't breathe. Sure Dean could have just been out getting smokes or something and forgot his phone but it felt too much like the night Dean had left last year. Roman had been out late and came home to an empty apartment. There had been no note, no possessions taken, no anything. Dean had just been gone and now he was gone again.

Roman went out the door. He knew he shouldn't have let Dean be alone. Especially after he had gotten upset. Now who knew where he was. This time he wouldn't just sit on the couch waiting up, oblivious to the fact that Dean wasn't coming back. No. He couldn't lose him again. He just got him back he couldn't go through this again. He couldn't let Dean throw himself down the gutter once more. He had to find him. He had to make it better somehow. He didn't know what the fuck he could do or where to look but he was going to try anyway.

He practically threw himself into his car and nearly ran over a bike a kid had left laying around as he whipped out of the parking lot. He practically flew down the long stretch of driveway, so panicked that he almost didn't see the dirty blond man turning to walk up the hill. He screeched to a stop and his eyes widened as he realized it was Dean jumping back out of the way. A bloodied faced and limping Dean that looked like he just got about ten years shaved off his life thanks to Roman's reckless driving. Relief and concern flooded him at once and Roman barley had the car in park before he was jumping out of the vehicle.

"Dean!"

"What the FUCK Roman?" Dean's face had gone an extraordinary shade of white. "Fucking god damn it!"

"Where were you?" Roman knew he needed to apologize for nearly running him over but damn it he could do it later. Dean had scared him to death first and now it was unleashing itself as anger. It was a trait of Dean's that sometimes rubbed off on him. "Where were you? Where the fuck were you?"

"I-"

"What happened to your face? Who the fuck did that to you I'll fucking kill them."

"Ro-"

"Why do you gotta just fucking disappear?" Roman grabbed Dean by the front of the shirt and nearly shook him. He was causing a complete scene but he didn't care. Dean could just be so infuriating. "Leave a fucking note would you? Don't just fucking leave." The display of anger was breaking and Roman threw his arms around the absolutely flabbergasted man, crushing him in a hug. "Don't do that to me again." He meant for it to sound authoritative. To regain the anger but a croaked plea was what came out instead. "Don't do that to me again just don't." He squeezed Dean more tightly, his face going into the crook of his neck. He smelled booze and blood and stale cigarette smoke. Must have been at a bar. He didn't have a lot of money though so someone had to be buying the drinks. Now the question was who and he knew whose ass to kick for letting him come home a bloody mess.

They just stood there for a long time, Dean at a complete loss at what to say or do. Finally he sighed and patted the top of Roman's head. "So...can we talk about you nearly running me over yet or should I save that for later?"

Roman pulled his head back and just gave him a look.

"Okay. Later it is."


	16. Chapter 16

It was like high school all over again. Roman took Dean into the apartment and got him straight into the bathroom so he could clean him up. Dean sat himself up on the sink and tilted his head back so Roman could tend to him. There was no money for a doctor though Roman had already threatened to take him several times already. He was getting the bleeding stopped while muttering threats towards Cooper the entire time. Dean had told him the story of the bar fight, even including the stuff about getting a gun pointed at his head. It was Roman he didn't need to leave anything out. He was sure he was securing Cooper's death certificate but he didn't care. The fire that flared in Roman's eyes was all he could focus on. He was pissed that Cooper had put him in harm's way. He was pissed someone tried to kill him. He was pissed his face got pounded in. He fucking cared and Dean was absolutely euphoric over it. His happiness kept him quiet as Roman worked on him. He did yelp when Roman reset his nose and without even thinking Roman grabbed his head and placed gentle kisses all over it. He was always such a sap like that when he played doctor. The kisses made Dean's heart skip a beat. It was like nothing had ever changed. Forgetting himself he threw his arms around Roman's neck and kissed him. In that moment there was no Seth. There had been no drug addiction or him being a total dumbass and leaving. There was only them. Roman, the only person he had ever let in. The only person who hadn't hurt him. Roman, who was kissing him back. They were gentle at first. Almost chaste even. It didn't stay that way for long. It was wrong sure but the stuff in the bar had fucked with Dean's head too much to let him care at the moment. His old world had tried to pull him back and bury him. Roman had been his escape the first time around and now he needed him again more than ever. Even if it was just going to be for a few moments.

Roman was the one to finally break the kiss. He pressed their foreheads together and they both panted for breath. Without realizing it Dean's legs had spread apart and Roman had stepped between them. Dean's head was spinning. The pain in his nose was completely forgotten. "Do you still love me?" He hadn't meant to ask that out loud but there it was. Couldn't take it back now.

"I never stopped."

"Do you love him?"

Roman hesitated but the look in his eyes indicated that had nothing to do with his feelings for Seth and everything in not wanting to hurt Dean by saying it.

"That's a yes." He knew Roman was too nice to just tell him that straight up. And it hurt. It hurt that Roman loved Seth. But he couldn't make himself be angry or start fighting over it. He was too tired and he had too many of his own conflicting emotions over Seth. He wondered if he should tell Roman about them. He wondered how Roman would respond. Would he feel jealous like Dean felt? Would he even care? What if he told Seth? What would Seth do with that information? Would he even give a shit? He seemed so into Roman there was no way he would reciprocate any feelings he had for him. Roman was the perfect man and he was just a fucked up asshole.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Roman's question caught Dean off guard. He looked into those grey eyes and only saw confusion. Roman was caught between him and Seth and had no idea what the fuck to do. Dean didn't know what to tell him. Selfishly he wanted Roman to choose him but it wasn't ever that simple. Roman wasn't going to want to hurt Seth...he didn't want them to hurt Seth. But he didn't want to be the one hurt. He deserved it sure but god he got so tired of it. And now that he wasn't a drugged out mess the thought of losing Roman scared him to death. Now that he wanted to be clean and wanted to be saved, Roman was the reason it felt worth it. If Roman completely gave him up for Seth he didn't know what he would do.

_But you do know. You'll fall again. You'll fall down, down, down and die down in the gutter. Just like everyone thought you would anyway._

"Dean?" Roman's voice once again caught Dean off guard. "Don't think like that baby." He knew. He knew Dean's head was going to a bad place. He always knew.

"I'm not thinking anything." Dean tried to push himself up off the sink. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Roman just gave him a look. He wasn't fooled. He was never fooled by Dean's shit.

"Just leave me alone," Dean grumbled. He just wanted to get away with one simple lie. "I'm-"

Roman was the one to kiss him now. It was the only way to make him stop this kind of talk. Or maybe that was just an excuse to do this. Dean wasn't going to complain. Roman's kiss always silenced the terrible voices in the back of his head. In its place came a stirring that spread through Dean's whole body. He wanted more. He needed more. He needed Roman's hands all over him but he didn't know if he would get them. Roman had feelings for Seth it wouldn't be right. But Roman also had feelings for him so how was it right that he was just going off and doing everything with Seth? Roman had a massive freakout over him. Roman came tearing out into the night for him. He still loved him and they still fucking fit. Roman's hands were in his, fingers lacing together just so perfectly. Yet Seth still lingered in the back of his mind. He didn't want to feel bad. He didn't want to wonder if Roman liked kissing Seth more than him. He didn't want to wonder what Seth's lips would feel like. He just wanted it to be nice and simple yet it wasn't and it was no wonder Roman was confused. He was fucking confused himself. His head was just throbbing from thinking about all this.

"We need to get you ice," Roman managed to say between kisses.

"Don't want ice."

"I didn't ask you if you wanted it." Roman reluctantly broke the kiss so he could pull Dean off the sink. "Come on."

Dean groaned but let Roman lead him to the kitchen anyway. He leaned back against the counter and watched Roman take one of the ice packs out of the freezer. He reached out to take it but frowned when Roman stopped short of handing it to him. "What?"

"You had a broken nose the day we met."

Dean blinked. He hadn't been expecting him to say that. He hadn't even expected Roman to remember that. It had been ten years ago though it felt even longer than that. It felt like an entire lifetime ago.

_Dean was late again. He hadn't meant to be. He had meant to get up and actually make it to school on time today but as usual his plan had fallen apart. A late night fight with his mom and her fuckhead of a boyfriend had left him emotionally exhausted and now sporting an ever attractive broken nose. He had managed to set it himself but it still purple and swollen and he had two black eyes now from it. Part of him wanted to just stay home to avoid all the stares he would get but it wasn't a real option. Staying home meant staying and seeing his mom all sprawled out and drugged up on the couch. She would just lay there all day, tourniquet and needle still in her arm until Luke pulled her up by the hair and reminded her that her place in life was out on the corner, getting fucked by any man desperate enough to pay for sex. And then she would come home and get high and it was just a never-ending cycle. _

_Third period had already started by the time he got to the school. He slipped into Mr. Regal's history class as quietly as he could. His entrance still attracted everyone's attention. Whispers broke out immediately. His face was a mess. His shaggy mop of light brown hair wasn't long enough to really hide any of the damage done to him. Mr. Regal stopped mid-sentence and he looked Dean up and down from head to toe. Dean tried to sneer but he couldn't really manage it. His face still hurt too much not to mention he was too busy shivering. He didn't have a proper coat. All he had was an old grey jacket which didn't do much in ten degree weather. "Bloody hell," the Englishman shook his head. "Just go sit down. I'll talk to you after class." _

_"Can't wait," Dean muttered. He went to the back corner of the room and plopped down in his seat. He hadn't grabbed his books or anything from his locker. He had just totally spaced that off. It was hard for him to care too much. All he could focus on now was trying to get warm. His seat was by the heater but he still couldn't stop shivering. He folded his arms over his chest and clenched his jaw tightly as he tried to just sink into his desk and not be noticed again. _

_"You want this?" _

_The voice nearly made Dean jump out of his skin. His head snapped to the left, eyes widening at the person who was now sitting next to him. The seat had been empty for three weeks, ever since Phil Brooks had moved away. Now his seat was occupied by a tall Samoan kid with shoulder length black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. __Grey eyes were looking at him with...concern? No. No way. It couldn't be that. It was never that. Nobody cared about him. In the social hierarchy that was his shit life he was the bottom of the barrel. Nerds were above him because at least they weren't street rats. They didn't have junkie whores for mothers. Yet here was this guy not only looking at him in concern but he was offering his hoodie to him. "Huh?" That was all Dean could manage to reply with._

___"Here." Instead of asking again the other boy just gave the hoodie to him. "You need this more than I do." He frowned as Dean stared at him like he had a second head but tried to be polite and shake it off. "I'm Roman."_

___"...Dean." _

___There was a long period of silence._

___"It's not gonna bite you." Roman nodded at the hoodie Dean had still yet to put on. "I promise."_

___Dean eyed him and the sweater warily before finally putting it on. Nobody ever just gave him anything. Roman had to want something out of him. But the hoodie was warm and it smelled nice and he decided that he could probably put up with whatever was going to be demanded from him. At least he would be warm for once._

Roman was caught off guard by Dean throwing himself at him. He stumbled back as their bodies collided but managed to regain his footing before he fell. Dean's lips were on his once more and they were so desperate and needy they took Roman's breath away. Dean's arms locked around his neck while his legs secured themselves around his waist. There was no pushing him away though Roman didn't want to. He couldn't imagine doing it. Not just because it would break Dean if he did. He needed this too. He needed Dean. He had missed him so badly that it had physically hurt to do anything for the longest time after he had left. Just existing had hurt. And now he had Dean back but now it was just all kinds of confusing because there was Seth. Sweet Seth who had fallen for. How could anyone not fall for him? There was even a certain softness in Dean's eyes whenever the subject of Seth came up. Dean tended to hate everyone but he didn't hate Seth and he felt like there was a whole can of worms brewing there but he couldn't dwell on that now. He could barely even think. Not with the way Dean was sucking on his lower lip, topping it off with a gentle nibble that went straight down to his groin.

He didn't realize he was carrying them into the bedroom until they were on the bed. Their hands quickly worked to get rid of their clothes. This wasn't the time for anything slow or sensual. They knew each other's bodies almost better than their own. They didn't need to explore they just needed each other. It had been too long since the last time. Dean grabbed Roman's hand and stuck his fingers in his mouth, lathering them eagerly with his tongue. Roman almost came undone right there. Dean had a way of looking at him that could do him in every single time. He pulled his fingers out of the warm mouth and slipped them down between them. He circled Dean's entrance for a moment, giving the slightest teasing before pushing his fingers in one by one.

"Fuck!" Dean's head shot up so fast he nearly smashed their faces together. He was going to break his nose all over again though Roman had a feeling he wouldn't care if he did. His teeth caught Roman's lower lip once more, only this time he tugged back until Roman groaned. "Just do it already."

"I don't want to hurt you." He tried to keep gently prepping the other man but Dean didn't let him. He surprised him by flipping them over so he was the one on top. "Dean!"

A wild look had come over Dean's face. He moved Roman's fingers out of him so he could reach over to the bedside table and grab the lube from the drawer. He squirted some into his hand and rubbed it on to Roman's cock. Roman threw his head back and moaned. He could actually feel Dean's desperation in every stroke on his shaft. He was terrible at hiding his emotions. He fancied the idea that he was good at it but he never had been. At least not with Roman. He was the one who stopped and looked at Dean as more than the troublemaker or the street rat or whatever it was any of the nasty things people thought of him and he saw who he really was. And he loved him. Even after the drugs and the pain he caused him he still loved him.

Dean positioned himself on Roman's lap and sank down on to the thick length. Roman wasn't sure which of them moaned louder. It didn't matter really. All that mattered was Dean's tight walls around his cock, still as tight as he ever been. Dean leaned forward and kissed him hard, their teeth clashing as Dean began to ride him. Roman's hands went to those pale hips, fingers pressing gently but firmly. He followed Dean's pace, loving the little whimpers the other man let out every time he thrusted upwards. Precum leaked from he head of Dean's cock and Roman was almost tempted to pull out and flip them over so he could suck it. Fucking Dean felt too good though and he was sure Dean would probably murder him for pulling out now anyway. He settled for moving one of his hand off of Dean's hips and wrapping it around the base of his shaft. He pumped his hand in time with their thrusts, his tongue finding the base of Dean's throat and licking all the way up to his jaw.

Dean sucked in a harsh breath. "I love you." He was leaning completely over Roman, arms wrapped around them so there was not an inch of space between them. "I love you I love you I love you." He repeated this over and over again, words jumbling together and voice spiking with every wave of pleasure that went through him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." His voice started to crack and Roman nearly stopped dead when blue eyes started to water. "Ro I'm sorry please I'm so sorry."

"Ssshhh." Roman kissed him deeply, his thumbs brushing under his eyes. "I love you." He kissed him again. "I forgive you." His hand stroked Dean faster, the other coming up to move Dean's hair out of his eyes. "Don't be sorry anymore. Just let it go." Things were confusing enough without clinging to a bunch of shit that had only hurt them both. Dean clung to the anger and the darkness he hated because he felt like if he forgot it would come back and hurt him even more than before. And now he was clinging to how he screwed up because it fit with every terrible thing he was made to believe about himself. And he did screw up but that was over now. He was clean and he was home and they would figure everything out. Everything with them, everything with Seth; they would find a way to figure it all out.

Dean buried his face into Roman's neck. The sound of their skin smacking together seemed to echo through the whole room. Roman could feel the muscles in his stomach start to coil. He wasn't going to last much longer. He stroked Dean faster, not wanting to cum before the other man did. He was rewarded with his name being screamed and Dean's seed spilling all over his hand and torso. Dean's walls tightened around his cock and he felt himself go, his hips still pumping upwards as he rode out his orgasm.

"Oh god Ro." Dean took several deep breaths as Roman finally stopped moving. His face was still buried in Roman's neck. His body was trembling, actually trembling so hard Roman felt like he was vibrating.

"I got you." Roman held him tight, rubbing his back until he was still. "Stay here." He moved Dean off him and rolled off the bed. He went to the bathroom and got a warm wet rag, cleaning himself off first before returning to the bedroom so he could do the same to Dean. Dean watched him through half lidded eyes, his hands already trying to pull Roman back into bed with him. Roman was going to throw the rag into the laundry but Dean's impatience just made him toss it across the room instead. He would get it later. For now he climbed back into bed, a soft smile crossing his lips as Dean draped an arm and rested his head on his chest like he was a pillow. Some things never changed.


	17. Chapter 17

Ninety five pounds crashing down on top of him was what woke Seth up the next morning. The sudden weight nearly made him jump out of his skin. His eyes flew open and it took a moment for him to process that it was just AJ hugging his neck and kissing his cheek and babbling on excitedly. "What the hell?" He tried to sit up she was just all over him and not letting him move. "AJ what the fuck?"

"HE PROPOSED!" The ear-splitting shriek of happiness was the first coherent thing out of her mouth.

"He...wait what?"

"He proposed!" AJ shoved her left hand in his face. The ring finger now sported a diamond engagement ring. "It was his grandma's and he said we'll pick out any ring I want when he gets the money but I know how much is grandma meant to him so I think I might just keep this one. Besides he's gotta buy me an actual wedding ring and we gotta buy a dress and there's cake and there's his ring and oh my god Seth it was so beautiful when he proposed." Tears were about to come pouring out of her eyes and all Seth could do was just sit there and stare at her. "We were at the park and Cody and Randy left so we were alone and it was by the fountain. And he said he loved me so much and he proposed by the fountain and then we got a hotel room so we could be alone and he loves me and I just..." the rest was lost by a loud squeal and her hugging Seth's neck.

Seth smiled despite the fact that she was actually kind of hurting him. "Congratulations." He hugged her back and kissed her cheek. "That's fucking awesome." He grinned and nudged her side playfully. "I get to be in the wedding right?"

"Why wouldn't you be?" AJ pulled back from their hug and shook her head. "You have to be in my wedding party though. Dolph has more friends than me he's got enough people for himself."

Seth's smile almost faltered at the matter of fact way she said that. He sometimes forgot that AJ really didn't have many real friends of her own. A lot of the time the people she hung out with were friends with Dolph and they were nice to her because of him. "Do I get to be maid of honor?" he joked.

"You can fight Naomi over it."

"Oh god no. I value my life."

AJ smirked. "Speaking of your life, did you fuck Roman yet?"

Seth felt his entire face go red. "No."

"But you're all naked under here."

"We can do other stuff and be naked..."

Her smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. "You two are so cute." She moved off his lap and took the spot right next to him instead. "It's too bad guys can't get each other pregnant. You would make the cutest babies with him."

"Uh...thanks?" Seth rubbed the back of his head and eyed his clothes that were down on the floor. He needed to get dressed but AJ was not only there but sitting on the blanket he could have wrapped around himself as he got up.

"I want to have lots of babies." She looked down at her hands, fingers playing with her ring. "I never thought I would but I want them now. Lots of babies. Three boys and three girls and we can hire a maid and be the Ziggler Bunch. It'd be the Brady Bunch but cooler." She bit down on her lower lip, a worried look flashing across her face. "You don't think he's going to change his mind do you?"

"What?" Seth was completely taken aback by the question. "No way. He loves you. He busts his ass every day to provide for you. "

"So I'm a burden."

"I didn't say that."

"But you implied it."

"No I didn't. That's not even what I meant." Seth rubbed the back of his neck. "Did you take your meds? You're running down Paranoid Alley over here and that's not healthy."

"I took them. Dolph made sure." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm just scared. Nothing keeps going good for me. Not if it's love anyway." She sniffled. "Everyone always leaves me. Daniel dumped me."

"Because he was an idiot."

"Glenn dumped me."

"That was statutory rape dude. I don't think you should be sad about that one."

"You didn't even know him. Or any of them."

"But you've told me enough to know that they're either all stupid or icky." Seth patted her leg reassuringly. "Dolph loves you. He's not gross or stupid or anything like that. You're gonna get married and have your babies and be very happy together." Since he still couldn't get up and dressed he leaned forward and tried to peer into the kitchen. "Where is he anyway?"

"Work. He's gonna come back and drop me off at the restaurant on his break."

"Where's Cody and Cooper?"

"Cody spent the night with Randy and I don't give a flying rat's ass about Cooper."

Seth couldn't help but snicker. "You're so awful about him."

"_He's_ awful. He deserves it." She pushed herself up off the couch. "I need to shower."

"Can you make breakfast after?" Seth stuck out his lower lip and gave her the best set of puppy dog eyes he could muster. She gave him an annoyed look but he refused to let up until she sighed in defeat. "I love you."

"You better." She scratched the top of his head and went to go take her shower. The moment she was out of sight Seth threw the blanket off and got up. He put his clothes on and gathered up all the dirty laundry he could find and put it in the hamper. He heard someone come in through the kitchen door but didn't pay them any kind of immediate attention to them. His focus had turned into finding the quarters Dolph kept stashed around. It was his turn to do laundry but nothing would get done if he didn't find change for the machines. _If Cody took it all again I'll kill him._

"What the fuck are you looking for?"

"The qu-what the FUCK?" Seth looked up mid-answer to see Cooper standing there in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room absolutely drenched in blood. His jaw dropped and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "What the..what...what the fuck happened to you?"

"Long story." Cooper peeled his shirt off slowly, wincing as he did so. Pale skin was purple from bruises but Seth was astounded when there was no blood to be found on his actual body. It wasn't his. He was drenched in blood that wasn't his and Seth could only stand there and stare at him like an idiot. "I'd asked you to wash this but uh..." he shrugged sheepishly and tossed it into the garbage. "I'm going to have to burn it." He started to strip himself of his pants but stopped when he noticed the way Seth was gawking at him. "What?"

"What do you mean what?" Seth couldn't even believe that was a question. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"It's a long-"

"Fuck that long story shit! You're covered in fucking blood!" Seth's voice was raising to the point the whole building was going to hear them but he didn't care. Cooper was not just going to come home looking like he walked straight out of a horror movie and just get to say that it was nothing. This was so far from nothing. This was on an entirely different universe from nothing.

Cooper rolled his eyes. "You couldn't handle the actual story kid." He stripped himself of his jeans and threw them away as well. "I'll give you the PG version though." He stepped fully into the living room and Seth instinctively took a step back. "Assholes tried to fuck with me. Assholes learned you should not fuck with me." He looked down at his own body, his fingers tracing over the bruises on his ribs. "Assholes got a few lucky shots in." He carefully sat down on the couch and let out a long sigh. "I didn't ask for this shit you know. I just was looking to have a few drinks with Dean and then they had to ruin the party."

"Dean?" Seth felt his heart skip a beat. "He was with you?"

"For awhile yeah."

"What do you mean for awhile?" A thousand scenarios were flashing through Seth's head at once and not one of them was good.

Cooper merely looked amused by Seth's reaction. "He got banged up in the bar fight so I sent him off. I'm assuming he made it home unless he ran into more trouble on the way back."

The rush of panic that went through Seth's entire body nearly made him sick. Everything in his gut was telling him something was horribly wrong. His panic mode always went from zero to sixty and the moment Cooper had said Dean had gotten banged up it had done his mind in. Someone else could have attacked him on his way home, capitalizing on him being defenseless. Or perhaps the assholes Cooper was talking about had gotten him without it being realized. Or maybe he had collapsed somewhere from his own injuries and now he was laying somewhere, needing help and not getting it.

"Oh fucking hell man." Cooper threw his hands up in exasperation. "I'm sure the fucker made it home. He's like cockroaches and Twinkies: a nuclear blast wouldn't even kill his ass." His brow furrowed and he tilted his head slightly. "Why are you freaking out anyway? Why should you give a shit about him?"

Seth didn't dignify that with a response. Instead he just went out the door and nearly sprinted down the steps. A small part of his head was telling him Cooper was probably right. Dean most likely made it home just fine and he was being stupid and freaking out over nothing. But he had to make sure. He just had to make sure.

* * *

The smell of bacon roused Dean from his slumber. It drifted in from the kitchen into the bedroom, calming him before he could freak out about waking up alone. Roman was making breakfast. He always did since Dean wouldn't wake up in the mornings unless he smelled food or he got dumped out of bed. Dean yawned and stretched his arms and legs before rolling over and burying his face into Roman's pillow. He breathed in the scent that still lingered on it. He wanted to call Roman back to bed. He didn't want to get up and around. He wanted to just stay there in their bedroom where everything was easy and all the shit that had happened didn't exist. But his own stomach betrayed him. It growled until he finally gave in and rolled out of bed. He slipped on a pair of blue boxers and a plain white t-shirt before joining Roman in the kitchen. Roman had already showered and changed into a grey tank top and gym shorts. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a piece of bacon he already had done hung from his mouth as he tried to finish cooking the rest of the breakfast. Dean stood there and just watched him, grinning when Roman finally looked up and noticed him. "Hey."

Grey eyes widened and Roman tilted his head back so the rest of the bacon could fall into his mouth. "Hey."

"What all did you make?" Dean closed the distance between them and hugged him from behind.

"Scrambled eggs and bacon."

"Where's the jalapenos?"

"Jalapenos don't go in scrambled eggs dude."

"Jalapenos go in anything I tell them to." Dean nudged Roman's hair out of the way with his nose so he could place soft kisses on the back of his neck. His hand slipped under Roman's shirt and he began tracing circles over his abs. "You put green peppers in your sometimes. How's that any different?"

"Because they're not fucking jalapenos." Roman craned his head back and kissed his cheek. "Go set the table."

"Don't wanna."

"Just set the table dude."

Dean let out a low whine and still refused to move. He was more than happy to stay where he was right at the moment. Roman felt so nice in his arms that he just didn't want to let go.

A loud banging at the door startled them both. "Can you get the door? Please?" Roman threw that word in there before Dean could protest.

Dean groaned and reluctantly let Roman go. "Fine fine. Whatever." He would have rather just ignored whoever it was so they could just go fuck off but since Roman asked nicely he went ahead and answered the door. On the other side of it he found a rather anxious looking Seth. Dean froze. Shit. He knew the kid would be around but he hadn't prepared himself for seeing him right off the bat. He also wasn't prepared for Seth's reaction upon seeing him, which for whatever reason was total relief washing over him. "Um...hi?" Lame but the best he could come up with in the midst of his confusion.

"Oh thank god." Seth's words were not helping Dean's confusion. Neither was the fact that the next thing he did was promptly throw himself on him, scrawny arms nearly choking him he put such a tight grip on him.

"Um...um...I'm happy to see you too?" Dean had absolutely no idea what this was about. He had no idea why Seth was on him like he thought he would never see him again. They had just seen each other yesterday. Granted, he had gotten nasty with him because of the picture with his mom but that fact didn't warrant a hug like this.

"Seth?" Roman came into the room and observed the scene with a frown. "What's going on?"

Seth let Dean go and winced sheepishly. "Cooper came home covered in blood. He said there was trouble and you got separated-"

"And you came to check on me while he's what, dying on the floor?" Dean shook his head. "I'm touched dude but priorities man. Rearrange them."

"Or don't," Roman muttered. "Fuck that mother fucker."

Seth looked at Roman in surprise before shaking his head. "It wasn't his blood though."

Well that changed the game entirely. "Well fuck man." Dean rubbed the back of his neck. He was tempted to ask if Cooper had said exactly what he did but stopped himself. If there was one thing he had learned in his life was that it was always good to just mind your own business. If Cooper wanted to be far more volatile than just a whiny rich boy with a victim complex then so be it. He wanted no part of it.

"So he's still up there?" Roman asked casually. Too casually actually. Dean gave him a look and Seth looked back and forth between them, unsure of what the hell was going on.

"Yeah. I mean unless he took off again." Seth shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Why?"

"Just stay here." Roman didn't even bother putting on his shoes as he headed for the door. "Have some breakfast I'll be right back."

Dean shook his head. Tell a normal man that a guy came home covered in someone else's blood and they would avoid him completely. Tell Roman and he still was going to punch Cooper in the face. Perhaps he needed to go stop him but fuck it. He liked the thought Cooper getting punched too much. He'd do it himself but Roman wanted to play defender so who was he to stop him? Of course, there was the matter of him being all alone with Seth now. They hadn't had time to figure anything out like Roman had said they would. Did they just tell him that they slept together? Would he break things off with Roman and then just leave them to be together? Would he just be mad at Dean and fight that much harder to keep Roman? And why the hell did he look so freaked out when he thought something had happened to him? Had Seth started caring about him when he hadn't been paying attention? He tried to tell himself he was imagining things but there was something in the way he kept looking at him. He wondered if Seth even realized it. He wondered what Roman would think.

_It's too early to do so much god damn wondering. Jesus fuck. _

"Where's the ketchup? Seth had gone into the kitchen while Dean had been lost in thought and he had gone ahead and opened the refrigerator. "Whoop never mind."

"Grab the jar of jalapenos while you're at it." Dean shook off his lingering thoughts and went back to the kitchen. "And the juice."

Seth made a face. "The jalapenos?" He peered over the fridge door and looked at Dean like he was insane. "Are you serious?"

"They go good with the eggs." That explanation only earned him a disgusted look. "Whaaat? Come on they're good!"

"You need help." Seth shut the door and handed Dean the jars of peppers. "Serious and professional help." He put the juice and ketchup on the counter so he could find glasses and plates.

"Maybe the rest of you need help." Dean snagged the juice off the counter so he could take a drink right out of the jug. "You ever think of that?"

"Nah. You're the crazy one." Seth got his food and wrestled the juice away from Dean so he could pour himself a glass before sitting down

"Well fuck you very much." Dean got his food and plopped down across from him. He reclaimed the jug and took a long obnoxious swig from it. "Nobody will even try it." He twisted the lid off the jar of jalapenos and started putting them all over his eggs. "Everyone just complains that I'm gross but nobody will even fucking try it."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Fine." He leaned across the table and swept up some of Dean's food with his fork. "If I puke I'm doing it on you though."

"Like hell you will." Dean braced himself in case he had to jump out of the way. He watched as Seth chewed the food slowly, laughing at the face the other man made. "Come on! It's not that bad."

"That's disgusting." Seth managed to swallow the bite down without vomiting at least. "You are crazy. You are literally crazy what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"It's good!"

"It's terrible! That is absolutely terrible."

"No it's not."

"You are high if you think that tastes good."

"And you're a pansy if you don't."

Seth just rolled his eyes but dropped the argument in favor of shoveling his own food into his mouth. Dean grabbed his fork to do the same but his phone buzzing snagged his attention instead. "Now what?" he grumbled.

"You could just ignore it," Seth pointed out.

Dean knew that was true but he had already grabbed the thing so it was too late now. He was just going to go ahead and read the text from Antonio. "Toni and Chris want us all at the beach."

Seth wrinkled his nose. "Our beach is disgusting. Why would we want to go there?"

Dean shook his head. "No no no not that shit hole we have at the lake. There's a place about two hours from here that's great. It's all isolated and there's cliffs and it's fucking beautiful."

"I'm in then." Brown eyes went to the door Roman had walked out of. "What about Roman though? He can't swim what's he supposed to do?"

Dean smirked. "He either learns or you get to witness one of his freakouts in all its glory." He texted Randy back saying he, Roman and Seth were in. "Which believe me is a sight to see." It was awful of him but he was already laughing at the mere thought of it.

"Or he could sit in the sand..."

"Nah. We're getting him in that water one way or another."

"We?"

"You're helping me."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Seth groaned. "He's going to kill us both."

"Nah. I'll shove you in his path while I get away."

"Hey!" Seth kicked him right in the shin for that one. "Jackass."

Dean just laughed.

* * *

Seth hadn't locked the door behind him when he had left his apartment so Roman was able to get right in. He heard someone in the shower and he had no idea who was all there in the apartment. He didn't particularly care. The only thing he wanted was to find Cooper. And find him he did. He was right there on the couch, drugs in hand. He was just going to shoot up right where Seth slept. That made Roman even angrier than he was to begin with. He stormed over to Cooper and ripped him up by the hair. Cooper dropped his needle and little bag of whatever it was he was about to put into his system. He opened his mouth to say something but Roman silenced him with a swift punch to the jaw. He let him fall down to the floor, only part of his rage sated by the blow. "What the FUCK were you thinking?" He grabbed him by the hair again and pulled him back up. Violence wasn't something Roman liked by any means. But he was more than willing to dish it out when he found it necessary. He pushed Cooper back first into the wall and moved his hand to his throat to hold him there. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"My problem?" Cooper's hand went over his wrist and squeezed hard. "You come into my place and start punching me and you want to know what my problem is? What about your problem Reigns?"

"You know what my fucking problem is. You fucking could have gotten him killed."

"Clearly I didn't though." Cooper twisted Roman's wrist until his grip loosened. "And uh, since when the fuck do you get to take free shots on his behalf again?" He shoved Roman back and rubbed his jaw gingerly. "You're not fucking dating him anymore."

"Just stay away from him." Roman wasn't even going to get into his situation with Dean. It wasn't any of Cooper's business. "And Seth. You stay the fuck away from him too."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Kind of hard when I live with him."

"Then maybe you should get gone."

Cooper laughed. It was such an ugly sound. "Roman please. Please please please don't pull that shit with me." He cold barely get all that out he was laughing so hard. "Look, I massively fucked up by dragging Dean along last night. And I'm sorry." He finally stopped laughing and gave Roman a serious look. "But if you really think you're going to send me off just because one of your boyfriends got a boo boo and you're worried about the other then you are fucking mistaken." He pushed past Roman and picked his stuff up off the floor. "You want Seth away from me? Keep him at your place. I won't fucking bother any of you there."

Roman clenched his fists tightly. The satisfaction of punching him had worn off fast thanks to Cooper refusing to be intimidated. He thought about hitting him again. Maybe he could force the intimidation that way. The idea died out when he took a good long look into Cooper's eyes. There was really nothing behind them. He was dead on the inside. Maybe it had been the drugs that did it or maybe it was his own bitterness that did it. Either way there was no point in pounding his face in when it wouldn't do shit. "Anything happens like last night again and I'll kill you." He did have to say that. He meant them way too much to just keep them in. "You understand me?"

"Loud and clear." Cooper gave him a rather mocking salute. Roman was tempted to forget about his defeat on the punching his face in front and do it anyway but AJ clearing her throat stopped him. She had been the one in the shower and now she was standing there, towel wrapped around her waist, her head whipping back and forth between them in confusion.

"What's going on?"

Roman just shook his head. "Go get dressed. You're coming over for breakfast." He heard Cooper snort but just glared at him. After what had happened with Dean and what Seth told him and the just the entire lack of regard Cooper seemed to have both for himself and everyone else did not leave him able to just leave AJ alone with him in good conscience. Until Dolph came back he was keeping her away from him just like he was Seth and Dean.


End file.
